


The Mystery in his Eyes

by cerisecandy



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crime Fighting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Smut, French Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), German Eren Yeager, M/M, Murder, Mystery, Non-Canon Relationship, Original Character Death(s), Romance, Serial Killers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-20 06:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2419031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cerisecandy/pseuds/cerisecandy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A golden key. A syringe full of poison. A path of betrayal.<br/>A boy who's barely grown up at all.<br/>And a man who's been grown up for too long.<br/>When his mother dies, Eren's dream of becoming a detective is not shattered, but burns more brightly than ever before- a fire that could either send him up in glory or drag him down to consume him whole. Enter Levi, an incredibly skilled, jaded detective with a penchant for white surfaces and black coffee, who greatly prefers ice to fire. When bright-eyed Eren, in his quest for vengeance, becomes a recruit, Levi has no choice but to risk getting burned.<br/>The exceptionally strange, yet strangely exceptional members of the Recon Corps detective agency; a runaway traitor who manages the impossible; bad decisions that lead to worse mishaps; and unresolved sexual tension between the most unexpected people are wrapped up in a harrowing tale of a boy's quest to solve the mystery of his mother's death- and the person who caused it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hollow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there-  
> I'm Audrey and if you haven't figured it out by now I really, really, REALLY like the magical pairing that is Ereri.  
> I also really like writing, so things led to more things and here I am writing an introduction to my very own fanfiction.  
> I honestly hope you like it, because so much of me is reflected in the events that this story portrays, and I'm determined to do these beautiful characters the justice that they deserve.  
> (Characters belong to Hajime Isayama, who, by the way, has broken my heart and stabbed me right in the feels over and over and over again.)  
> Please do tell me if there are any grammatical errors- even though I have an amazing friend who reads through my chapters beforehand, mistakes can still slip through.  
> Enjoy!

It was his mother, but at the same time, it wasn’t his mother.

 

Brown hair secured in a neat ponytail, falling gently over the curve of a shoulder. A slender face that was beautiful despite its wrinkles, soft yet determined. Slim nose, full lips. The woman lying on the bed was the spitting image of Carla Jaeger, from the defined arch of her eyebrows to the delicate, nimble fingers that rested against the pillow- yet something was missing. What made her well and truly _her-_

 

it was gone.

 

Her eyes, her beautiful eyes a stormy blend of glinting emerald and alluring blue, the eyes that could turn from tender to fiery in the mere space of a moment, the eyes that were expressive and captivating and portrayed emotion so intensely it was almost _tangible_ , those eyes that had never changed in all the years he’d known her- those eyes were now dull and lifeless.

 

It was as if an oil painting rich with hues and shades had been stripped down to a bare canvas. An empty blank that could never be infused with colour no matter how many times the painter’s brush wove across the paper. 

 

The eyes that had, just yesterday, been filled with so much love, now seemed as if they were made of glass.

 

And that was how Eren Jaeger knew, within a few seconds of stepping into the room, that his mother was dead.

 

 

-

 

 

“ _Eren, you can’t just change your university major to- what was it- criminology just because you feel like it! Pursuing a career as a detective seems fun at first, sure, but-“_

 

_“Mom, I’ve thought about this for a long time! It’s not because it’s…Fun,” Eren broke off, disgusted, “But I really think I have an aptitude for this. I didn’t tell you this, but I completed a course on criminal studies just a few weeks ago, and I’m planning to apply to a detective agency for training.”  
_

_His mother leant her cheek against her hand, lips parting in a sigh. “Since young you’ve always been this stubborn- if you wanted it, you’d fight for it tooth and nail- and I’m not going to stop you now. Eren, I’m not against it, you know? I just…it’s going to be a dangerous path to take, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”_

 

_“Mom, I can’t promise you that I’m not going to be hurt, but I promise you that I’ll make you proud.”  
_

_“Oh, Eren-“ Reaching across the table, she stroked his head fondly. “I already am.”_

 

Eren smashed the framed picture of his mother against the wall.

 

_“I’m not always going to be around to take care of you, though, and now that you’re all grown up you’re going to have to learn how.”_

 

_“I already do!” Eren protested, arms crossed over his chest._

 

_“I mean it. It’s a cruel world and you’re going to have to fend for yourself.”_

 

_“I know, I know.”_

 

The glass bit into his fingers, droplets of blood clinging to the shards and smudging his hands red. He didn’t stop until his mother’s face was obscured with jagged cracks, her smile a glass fracture, and then he rammed himself into the wall instead. Again, and again, and again, and again.

 

 

_I’m not always going to be around to take care of you…_

 

A wail ripped itself from Eren’s throat, hoarse and primal and almost animalistic. He was out of his mind. The screams drowned out the repeated bangs of his head thumping heavily against the wall, covered up the physical damage he was doing to his own body. Trickles of blood curved down his temple, stained his lips, dribbled past his chin. Still he kept screaming, until it was all he could do, all it could hear. Until he wasn’t sure how he was still alive at all.

 

_It’s a cruel world…_

 

“Eren!’ The door burst open with a colossal slam. “ _Eren!”_ He couldn’t see, couldn’t do anything else but hurt himself and scream, scream, scream, scream through the blood and the numb pain and the tears. He felt arms around him, hugging him tight, someone sobbing against his back, “Eren…please…stop…Eren, please…” The voice was so sad. Why was it sad? Heard, faintly, as if through a glass wall, “Eren! Oh my god, we need to get him to a hospital.” Warmth from another hand on his arm, gently pulling him back, stopping himself from inflicting more harm on himself, the world spinning around him…

 

And then everything came crashing around him and the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was his mother’s voice.

 

_And you’re going to have to fend for yourself._

 

He woke up and all he could see was white. What an interesting colour, he mused, so plain and empty, yet pure and sanctified in its own way. Boring and yet potent. White.

 

He blacked out again.

 

The second time he woke up, he saw green. What’s that, he thought dazedly, masks? Why are they wearing masks? It’s not even a nice shade of green… Then a stabbing pain in his thigh and he felt the world blurring at the edges. Not…again?

 

The final time he woke up, everything was black. Or at least he though it was, until the black started to separated into thin slices and light started filtering through them and-

 

“Mi…kasa?”

 

The person in question whipped her head up from where it rested against Eren’s pillow, strands of black hair falling messily over her face. “Eren, you’re awake!”

 

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

 

Then the events of the past few days came crashing back into his mind and the waves of pain enveloped him once again. He’d come back to find his mother lying, dead, on her bed, just a few days after he’d broken it to her that he wanted to be a criminal investigator. And there was a large, gaping wound in her neck, corroded flesh peeling back, as if it were rotting…One look and anyone could tell that Carla Jaeger hadn’t died from natural causes. It was murder. 

 

And Eren had reacted very, very badly.

 

He didn’t remember what happened after he started shouting at his mother to wake up- it was all a blur of people barging in, someone calling the police, then, as an afterthought, the ambulance, people grabbing at him, lifting his mother off of the bed, him unable to see through his own tears. It felt like something inside him was breaking. Then, a few hours later, Eren still in the stages of denial over his mother’s death, someone they’d all expected had called - the police. But what they told him, what they told Mikasa, was anything but expected. 

 

His mother was the latest victim of The Titan, a serial killer whom Eren had only ever heard of in grim reports on TV, stony-faced newscasters and gory footage. He’d never thought- would never even _think_ that his mother would be a target. The Titan, a psychopath on the loose who killed all of his victims in the same way. By injecting them, all of them, with a fatal poison. Eren had flat out refused to accept the truth that she’d been murdered by a criminal, but the autopsy said the same thing. So did the detective agency that had been _on The Titan’s case ever since the first corpse was found_. And that was it. Why? Questions ate at his mind like starving rats. How? Who? 

 

It had been too much for Eren to bear. The last straw, the very last thing that caused him to snap, was a little voice inside him that taunted and jeered and mocked-

 

_How ironic. You told your mother that you wanted to investigate crime, and now she’s dead. Was this the type of crime you wanted to investigate? Your own mother’s?_

 

That was when Eren felt the true pain of his mother being gone, when it finally occurred to him that she was dead, and not only that, had died an undignified death at the hands of a criminal, had spent her last moments feeling it spread throughout her entire body, spent it with the very same person who killed her. It finally registered in his mind that she was gone and she’d never come back. He’d never again hold her hand, feel her palms caress his cheeks, be chided by her when he’d done something wrong, run squealing from her as she chased him with a spoon, be pushed, laughing, up into the clouds on a swing, be greeted cheerily at the doorway with a large meal when he returned from school.

 

He was never going to look into those eyes again.

 

And that was all it took for him to reach breaking point, to break every single thing in the room that contained a hint of his mother, everything in the room that caused him unbearable pain. He staggered, nearly fell with the crushing weight of her death on his back, and ended up breaking the last relic of her against the wall. A picture where she smiled that familiar,warm smile of hers. Only now, he couldn’t bear to look at another reminder of what he’d lost. Then he ran out of things to destroy and had started attempting to destroy himself instead, because maybe it would also destroy the pain. 

 

Mikasa and Armin had found him and called an ambulance, and here he was, staring into Mikasa’s worried face.

 

“Eren? You…remember what happened, now?”

 

Her voice wrapped around him before he could start drowning in the endless sorrow again. Her voice kept him grounded. Mikasa, his adopted sister, his best friend, had always been his pillar of support, and here she was playing the part again. Despite her own sadness, she was forgetting her own feelings to make sure that he didn’t lose all sanity again. He looked at the puffy rings around her eyes and felt a suffocating sense of guilt.

 

“I’m sorry-“ He was shocked at how cracked and small his voice sounded. “I’m such…a bad brother.”

 

Mikasa’s face crumpled and she hugged him, tightly, tears dampening the shoulder of his hospital gown. He responded just as powerfully, holding her to him not just to keep her from falling apart, but also to keep him from falling apart, and there they sat, rocking back and forth, listening to the beep-beep of Eren’s heart monitor and the sound of their own sobs. “I miss her,” Eren managed to choke out, and the sadness felt different now. His heart still ached, ached more than anything in the world, but he felt like he was beginning to heal. So, so, slowly, but he was accepting her death nonetheless. Mikasa could sense it, too, and in response she only hugged him tighter. “Me too. But Eren, why did you do that? You got a severe concussion and fractured some bones in your arm. We were all so worried!”

 

With a start, Eren realised that his head and arm were bandaged up tightly, an IV connected limply to his wrist. He’d been so absorbed in his own thoughts and emotions that he hadn’t even felt any pain- now that he focused, he could feel a dull throb in his temple. Mikasa pulled back and rolled her eyes. “You didn’t notice, did you?” She sighed. “How is it that you can still look sheepish at a time like this?” Eren gave up- Mikasa had always been able to predict his every move before he even knew what course of action to take. She turned serious. “I know…I know that it hurts. It hurts a lot, here-“ she gestured to her ribcage- “and here-“ she tapped her forehead lightly- “and basically here.” Her arms swivelled around her, referring to her entire body. Eren knew she wasn’t referring to physical pain. “And to be honest, I don’t know if I’m ever going to get over it. There’s going to be dealing with the police, and the detective agency- what was it called? The Recon Corps? And we’ll have to have a funeral, and meetings with her lawyer, because I know she left a will behind.” Mikasa exhaled wearily, but she maintained the intensity of her gaze. “But, Eren-“ she clasped his hands tightly. “Please, promise me you’re not going to let this affect you. I know of your dreams to-“

 

“I promise.” And there it was, a seed of something growing in his ribcage, burning and itching and-

 

_anger._

 

It was a familiar emotion, and Eren welcomed it. He let it take control of every inch, every fibre of his being, let the anger fill him and balloon in him and consume his entire body in greedy flames. The Titan was going to pay. Now that his mother had been victimised, Eren wanted to become a criminal investigator even more so than ever. He thought it would have crippled him, left him in fear, unable to look at a dead body ever again, but no- the anger was bright and burning and fuelled his desire to reach his goal. He’d avenge his mother’s death, he swore, lying there in his hospital bed, he’d make sure she hadn’t died in vain. He would kill every single criminal lurking in the shadows of this world. He’d purge the earth of its evil. He- he’d kill _all of them!_ Eren had felt this anger so many times before, standing in front of bullies on the playground, defending Armin when a group of seniors had cornered him and ripped up his Science notes, punching a man in the face at a bar before he could feel up Mikasa. It was the very same anger, fed by a righteous desire for revenge, and it felt…right. Balling his fists up, he turned to Mikasa and scowled, the expression slipping back onto his face like it had never left. 

 

“I promise!”

 

_I promise you that I’ll make you proud._

 

_Oh, Eren. I already am._

 

Eren was angry, and this anger would be the beginning of everything to come.

 

-

 

Miles away a dark-haired man rifled impatiently through the documents on his desk.

_Abandoned dog…Missing wallet…Will these people get their fucking lives in order already? We don’t have time to sort out their unimportant bullshit._

Then his slender fingers paused on a single sheet of paper. 

 

_Red Coded_

_Case Status: Unresolved_

_Known As: The Titan_

_Name: Unknown_

_Status: Serial Killer. On the run._

_Crimes: Murdered 13 people. Injured five police officers._

_Noticeable Characteristics: Wears a black mask and a white coat. Kills all of his victims by injecting a poison into their bodies through the neck. Purpose unknown._

_Age: Unknown_

_Gender: Suspected male_

_Blood Type: AB_

_Family: Unknown_

_****Important note: Subject killed another victim 24 hours ago. Victim has been identified as Carla Jaeger, age 43. Cause of death similar to the previous victims. No clues left behind at the scene, nearby items currently being tested for DNA strands. Her immediate family (son, Eren Jaeger and adopted daughter, Mikasa Ackerman) have been notified. They will be brought in for interviews soon._

 

The man’s eyes scanned the document swiftly, processing the information as quickly as he devoured it. His spine had gone rigid.

 

_Okay, I take it back._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh? Eh? How was it?  
> I'll be releasing a chapter either every Tuesday or every second Tuesday, so if you find you'd like to know what happens next, I'm not going anywhere.  
> Oh by the way, you can find me on Tumblr at chlorinephantomhive OR on Twitter at Dreybbles to provide me solace in the sanctuary that is social networking. ┐('～`；)┌  
> See you soon!  
> -Audrey


	2. The Stranger with Coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren runs into some people and gives them varied impressions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHY HELLO and I am back again with more! (I feel like you'll like this chapter)  
> Thank you for your nice comments and I hope you'll stick with little shit Eren till the end of his journey.  
> Enjoy!

_It is a Wednesday. Eren doesn’t like Wednesdays- they’re in the middle of the week, which means that he’s already tired out but has to force himself to keep going. Which is why when his mother takes him out to ice-cream, he’s happier than usual._

_He prefers chocolate to vanilla, because he thinks vanilla is a boring flavour. But it’s not that easy, because there’s mint chip, and pecan, and strawberry cheesecake, and his head is spinning as he presses his face to the glass. “Um.” The young shopkeeper laughs at his indecisiveness. “That’s a cute boy you’ve got there. How old is he?”_

_“I’m nine!” Eren looks up with a petulant scowl. “And I’m not small for my age!”_

_“Now, now, Eren,” says his mother, but the shopkeeper is laughing. “That was just what I was going to say. I’m sorry.”  
Eren is satisfied. He jabs his finger at the flavour he wants, which happens to be red velvet today, and the bell jingles as he and his mother step out into the sunlight._

_A month later the ice cream store closes down, and Eren sees the storekeeper with scars on her wrists, red-ringed eyes. His mother folds her into a hug, and Eren can see her thin frame shaking. “Be strong,” his mother whispers, and the shopkeeper just shakes her head. “Dad’s gone. He was supposed to stay with me. I was supposed to help him out at the ice cream shop for the summer. It’s not supposed to be…this way…”_

_The shopkeeper rips herself from his mother’s arms and runs away._

_Eren will never see her again._

_And that is the first time he realises what happens when people lose someone they love._

 

Recon Corps: Criminal Investigation Agency. Eren peered up hesitantly at the sign on the door, even though he’d seen it several times around the building already. A strange man who had seemed to be- sniffing him?- had escorted him here, grunted “wait a few minutes” and promptly disappeared. He was here for his interview as scheduled, but all he wanted to do, really, was sign up as a trainee in the police force. The sooner he got the proper qualifications, the better. His mother’s death was still a fresh wound in his mind.

“Come in!”

Eren winced. The voice was loud and unbelievably cheery- honestly, he hadn’t even wanted to come, but he wanted to aid the investigation in whatever ways he could. “And your name is?”

“You obviously already know, or I wouldn’t be here in the first place,” Eren retorted as he stepped through the doorway and looked up to find himself in a quaint, musty-smelling room. A huge oak desk was propped at one end, nearly overflowing with files and stacks of paper, as well as some science equipment that, Eren was pretty sure, belonged in a laboratory. And amongst it all sat a grinning woman with rusty-red hair snatched up haphazardly in a ponytail, flyaway strands framing the large black glasses that rimmed her eyes. Eren had definitely not expected this- he’d envisioned it to be a sterile, immaculate room, with a stern suited _professional_ man sitting on a chair instead of the table. The woman seemed to notice what Eren was thinking and laughed without abandonment. Her legs swung to and fro, and her eyes seemed to hold a maniacal gleam- she was excited? Yes, she was definitely excited. “You seem like an angry little one, huh? I’ve been looking forward to our meeting for ages. I’m Hanji Zoe, resident forensic scientist, and I’ve been absolutely in _love_ with this case since day one! Oh, I can’t wait to get my hands on The Titan…”

Eren didn’t know whether to be shocked or absolutely piss-your-pants frightened. What was this woman even on? Was she a legitimate scientist?

“Aaanyway, Erwin made me do your interviews because he said you were the one who discovered the corpse- sorry for your loss, by the way- and were likely to have noticed more clues. And, obviously, if you want to analyse clues, I’m your girl. Erwin needs to tone down on his serious face, though. Makes him look really scary. This one time he tried going to a club, and got kicked out by the bouncer because they thought he was a _rapist?”_ Hanji snorted violently, face contorted in mirth. Eren was sure his mouth was slightly open. He had bristled when she’d mentioned his mother’s- remains- so casually, but saw the sincerity in her eyes when she’d apologised for his loss. Also, how did one go from talking about corpses to rapists? _Remind me never to go to the club with her,_ Eren caught himself thinking, then internally smacked himself.

“So, an interview?”

“Ah, yes. Eren Jaeger.” The woman- Hanji- seemed to switch rapidly from insane to serious. “What time was it when you entered the house…”

It was strange, but Eren seemed to gain a sense of closure from answering Hanji’s questions. It was as if saying the words out loud, “there was a wound in her neck”, “dried blood on the floor”, “no visible signs of a struggle”, helped him to accept what had truly happened. Hanji left no detail untouched, and for that he was grateful, because he wouldn’t be able to live with any nagging doubts in his mind about his mother’s death. He didn’t notice that nearly and hour had passed, and when Hanji closed the file, leapt off the table and smacked her hands together all at the same time,  Eren nearly let out a squeak of fright. “Thank you for being so cooperative!” He’d been surprisingly open, Eren realised, although hesitant and touchy at first. There was something about this Hanji that made you willing to talk, to expose the truth for her to pick apart. Maybe it was her overflowing enthusiasm that bubbled under the surface even when she wasn’t smiling, or the way she made eye contact without making him feel awkward. Either way, Eren was glad he hadn’t walked in to find a stern suited professional man sitting on a chair. “By the way, Eren, you seem rather young. Are you still in college? Your sister spoke a little about you.”

Eren swallowed. “I- I was, and I was planning to study criminology, but everything is different now. I used to want to do more psychological work, but ever since my mother’s death- well, things have changed, I guess. Um…I was planning to join the police force as a cadet and work my way up from there. Get some training, maybe become a detective…” Eren trailed off as he realised Hanji was staring at him like a woman possessed. She was, in fact, a woman possessed, but she looked more intense than ever. “Eren. You do know we’re a detective agency, right?”

“Yeah…” Eren returned her gaze, slightly confused. “But you wouldn’t recruit a complete novice like me. And…you’re working on my mother’s case and I thought I wouldn’t be allowed to-“

“Can I ask you a question? Why do you want to pursue this career?”

  
Immediately Eren’s eyes seemed to spark. “Isn’t it obvious? My mother is dead, and I’m so much more aware of how- how fragile life is now. If it can happen to my mother it can happen to anyone, and I’m not going to let that happen. I’m not going to let my mother _have died in vain!_ I want her death to be valuable, to provide information that we never had before, and I want to join the cause to make that happen.” Eren, too late, had realised that he was breathing heavily, fists clenched. Hanji stared at him with a strange expression on her face, approving and fond and…impressed?

“And if you’re that persistent, Eren, you’re not going to let something like rules stop you from joining us, are you? Sure, you’re related to the victim and you’re technically not allowed to work on a case involving her, but we can…make arrangements.”

  
“I don’t…understand.” Eren squashed down the hope that was blooming in his chest. This was too good to be true. “Why are you helping me? You just met me! You don’t even…”

“I can see it in your eyes,” Hanji breathed, grinning so hard he thought her face would split. “The last time I saw this amount of determination in someone’s eyes it was ten years ago, and now that man is second in command here. Sure, your reason for this determination is your mother, but that does not necessary make you biased- if you were just out to avenge your mother’s death, you wouldn’t have bothered working your way up to become a detective. Oh, no, you’d have used whatever means possible, illegal ones even, just so you could kill the killer. But you didn’t- and that shows you’re doing it for humanity.”

Eren’s eyes widened. This woman was so much more perceptive than he could have ever imagined- he’d judged her wrongly. This was the forensic scientist in her showing itself. 

“So, Eren. I’ll put in a good word for you and if you’re lucky-“ she winked- “You might just get a chance at an assessment. I’ll give you more details when the time comes.”

“I don’t even know what to say, Miss Hanji.” He barely managed to choke the words out. His chest was bursting with gratitude, so much it hurt.

“A simple thank you would suffice.”

“Thank you, and…um…I'd like to hear more about your experiments someday .”  
Eren had to dodge Hanji’s hug and dashed out to the room to the sound of her violent inhales.

 

Only to run smack into someone with a cup of scalding hot coffee.

-

 

“Fuck! Watch where the fuck you’re going!” The person hissed in pain, voice strained and sharp. Eren’s momentum had caused both of them to lose their balance, and the coffee had not been spared. Eren winced as he heard the anger in the other person’s tone. “I’m so sorry, are you okay? Are you burned?” From where he lay sprawled on the floor, Eren could only see a pair of black shoes and the hem of the person’s pants. “It’s not being burnt you should be worried about, asshat, it’s the goddamn floor. Do you know how much _time_ I spend cleaning these corridors? They were sparkly as all fuck and look what you’ve made me done.” Eren groaned, looking at the brown liquid that was gradually seeping into the cracks between the polished white linoleum tiles. Not only had he managed to knock over a member of the cleaning staff, the person had a vulgar mouth and was obviously unafraid to use it. “I’m sorry, okay? I’ll help you to clean up the mess, I promise.” Eren scrambled back onto his feet, reaching out a hand to help the person beneath him-

 

Only to look into the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen.

 

Grey irises so dark they were nearly black, like smouldering chips of arctic ice, cold and analytical and completely disinterested yet filled with a fierce, nearly _sensual_ light that almost took his breath away. Not only that, but the elegantly slanted eyes were framed by thick, delicate eyelashes, and if Eren hadn’t heard his voice he’d have sworn the cleaner was a woman. _No one was allowed to have eyes this stunning._ He’d only ever seen these kinds of eyes in magazines, and even then he’d just been impressed, more drawn to the models’ physiques. Now he was completely taken aback, pinned down by the intense gaze the man was directing at him. 

 

An ugly white mask shielded the man’s features from view, sparing only his eyes, but Eren was more than content with getting lost in the icy depths. He didn’t know what he was feeling right now, but knew it was probably a mixture of awe and envy. He wanted those eyes, not stupid too-bright orbs that couldn’t even decide what colour they were, that widened almost instinctively and gave him an almost comical look-

 

“Are you blind or something?”

 

_Ah, shit._

 

He’d been too distracted to notice that the man’s glare had hardened till it was nearly scathing, eyebrows furrowed so hard they looked like permanent creases in his forehead. Eren forgot about his wonder for a moment and felt a wave of irritation creep up over him.

 

“Man, what’s your problem? I told you I’d help!”

“I don’t need help from a clumsy brat like you. You’re probably going to end up sobbing in a puddle of your own shit. Just get out of my sight and stop staring at me like a creep.” The man stood up, clutching the mug rather awkwardly from the top. He was surprisingly short, despite his intimidating expression, and he was wearing rather strange attire for a cleaner- a cravat? Eren hadn’t seen that particular article of clothing since he was a kid. 

 

“I wasn’t-“ Eren sputtered, colour rising in his cheeks, “You just have nice eyes, okay? But nice eyes count for nothing when you’re a complete asshole.”

 

“If I recall, you’re the one who came running out from Hanji’s office-“ The man broke off. “Wait, why were you coming from there?”

 

Eren really didn’t feel like delving deep into his life story with a short, rude prick who had blatantly refused his help. So he put on his best smirk, feeling it settle uncomfortably onto his face, and drawled, “It’s just my personal opinion, but I feel that Zoe’s love life is none of your business, is it?” Internally pumping a fist in victory, he practically sauntered past the cleaner, whispering into his ear: “Unless you’re jealous, of course.”

Eren had barely made it down the hallway with a huge, victorious grin on his face before he heard an amused voice glide past the walls and creep into his ears like poison ivy.

 

“You’re not very good at this, are you?”

 

-

A blond boy was sitting on his doorstep.

 

The wind tangled itself in his chin-length hair, blue eyes gazing absently off into the distance. Even so, Eren knew his mind never stopped working.

 

“Armin!”

 

In a moment the blond boy was off the doorstep and had barrelled into him, eyes shut tight in relief. “Eren! I tried to sneak into your ward but this nurse caught me and I had to feign being dizzy for her to finally get off my case! And it backfired because the act I put up was too realistic and I was sent to the emergency ward! I managed to bluff the doctor by elevating my heart rate and sending out some signals, but of course by the time all that was done you were discharged and when I got to your house you were gone-“

 

“Woah there, Armin, you need to calm down. How’d you elevate your heart rate, by the way?”

Armin waved a hand impatiently and pulled back to smile widely at his best friend. “I’m so glad you’re okay! You don’t even know…how frightened I was…it was like I couldn’t get through to you. Like you were sitting in a room and I was banging on the windows but you couldn’t hear a thing.”

Eren ruffled Armin’s hair, his eyes filled with apology. “In the haze of sadness, I suppose people can do anything,” Armin mused, before checking Eren for wounds. “Are you sure you’re fine now?”

“Yes, Armin,” Eren sighed, before brightening up. “Hey, how does pizza and Sims 4 sound?”

 

-

 

“Oh my god he’s pregnant.”

“No way. I’ve been trying to impregnate mine for _ages!_ You don’t know how damn lucky you are.”

 

“He’s about to die, though, I hope he gets to give birth before he does. The legacy will live on.”

 

“Do you think mine is gay?”

 

“I don’t know, man, you have to understand him. Let him open himself up to you. Feel what he feels. See what he sees. Love-“

 

“WHAT THE _FUCK_ ARE THE BOTH OF YOU DOING???”

  
Eyes shut tight, Mikasa crashed into the room, arms flailing violently. “Break it up! Break it up! No hookers allowed in this house!” Blindly groping for a weapon, Mikasa succeeded in grabbing Armin’s pocket encyclopaedia from the table- which turned out to be a monstrously thick book that looked like it could put satan in a coma. “MIKASA!” Completely bewildered, Eren leapt onto her and snatched the book from her hands while Armin squeaked and hid behind the couch. “We were playing Sims 4!”

Mikasa opened her eyes cautiously and let out an internal sigh of relief when she didn’t see any naked bodies. “Oh, my god, I was so shocked that you two-“

“Do you honestly think I’d participate in an orgy?” Armin’s head popped out from behind a cushion. “Sure, I get why you were suspicious, Eren’s the gay one with raging hormones and no common sense-“  
Mikasa snatched the plates from the table as Armin and Eren, the former caught in a headlock, slammed into the chairs. “No, wait, my…encyclo…” The book tumbled onto the ground, and Armin let out a wail of horror. “Like you’re not gay either!” Eren, voice muffled, called out, before they sprawled onto the floor in a happy, sweating heap. “I…I’m not sure…yet.” Armin bashfully scratched behind his neck, “And anyway, I’m too busy with school to find out.”  
The only girl in the room, face contorted in frustration, flung her scarf to the side and hauled both of them up by the collar. “Can you both just-“  
Her eyes flew to Eren’s neck.

“Eren…You’ve started wearing it again?”

He stiffened, hands unconsciously flying up to fidget with the gold chain.

“Yes.”

Armin, sharp as a blade, analysed the situation immediately and chose to keep quiet. He knew Eren’s key was a sensitive topic, not because of what it was, but because of who had given it to him. Some people kept objects as symbols of their parents’ love; but to Eren, the key was representative of his father’s lack of love. It only brought back memories, painful ones, some Armin didn’t even know about, and he knew by the way Eren was clenching his fists that he was recalling them now. Even in the past, he had expected Eren to open up to him immediately, had always given him time, so he couldn’t hold back a small gasp when Eren started to speak of his own accord. No matter how smart he was, Armin could never predict the sheer amount of willpower and courage that Eren possessed.

“I’ve told you this before, that I was ten years old when Grisha walked out on us. He didn’t provide a letter, or a warning, or even any hint of goodbye. What he did leave behind was this key.”  Eren swallowed as his best friends listened in silence, having heard this story only several times before. Mikasa had only been adopted a year after Grisha left, and she remembered arriving in a house warm and welcoming but marred with scars from the past. Armin, on the other hand, had been best friends with Eren since they were eight when Eren had tried to beat up his bullies and ended up being forcefully dunked into the toilet bowl along with him, and he remembered a period of time when Eren had stopped inviting him over and become silent and withdrawn. Slowly, Eren had recovered, fumbling with his feelings of sadness and betrayal, and opened up most of himself to Armin.

“My mother, heartbroken, attached a chain to the key and wore it around her neck. I always found her sobbing and clutching it to her chest. I tried, countless of times, to get rid of it, but somehow she always stopped me and calmed me down. I didn’t understand then; why would you keep something that belonged to someone who caused you so much pain?” Eren sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Now I understand- just a little, but at least more than I did before. My mother loved him, and I guess no matter what he did, she still clung to that love. That key was her hope that he would return, so it was very precious to her. I, on the other hand, lost my love and respect for him almost immediately.”

“So it’s no wonder that I’ve always hated this key. I avoided talking about it because it made me relive all the emotions from before. I never looked at it because I could still see it clutched in his hand. I just hated it, because it wasn’t a symbol of hope like it was for my mother, but a symbol of what I had lost.”

Armin patted his hand encouragingly, while Mikasa, out of habit, rubbed the tip of her scarf against his arm in a unique gesture meant to comfort him.

“But ever since mom died, I guess…this key has become my motivation. My motivation to avenge her death. My motivation to put her truly at rest. To finally get some closure. Because this key was her hope, I only see her smiles when I look at this key. I only hear her voice and her wonder for life no matter how hard it became. This key is still a reminder of what I’ve lost…but…in a different way. It’s become a symbol for what I want to _remember.”_

“Of course, I’m still mad at my father for leaving us alone and helpless five years ago, but there’s something more important that my hatred now. It’s remembering her, and fighting to make her death significant.”

“That’s why you’re wearing it now, then. You’ve learnt to let go, a little, of your hatred.” Armin smiled that innocent, blissful smile of his, the smile that had disarmed so many girls in the past. “Good on you, Eren. Really cheesy, but good on you.”  
They dissolved into a giant hug, Eren partially choking on the tassels of a red scarf while Armin tried not to sneeze as strands of hair got stuck up his nostrils, Mikasa wincing at the odour that emanated from their bodies- but they were together again. 

 

The golden key lay on Eren’s collarbone, and it no longer held the same troubling weight as it had before.

 

-

 

Levi Ackerman was not happy.

Then again, this wasn’t a surprise.

“Where’d you put the Windex, shitty glasses? Fucking kids bumping into me all over the place, what kind of detective agency is _his highness_ running-” Levi sneered under his breath, not making an effort to greet his self-proclaimed “BFFL” as he barged into her office. “Kids? What kids? Did you see a kid? Did he happen to have green eyes?” Levi briefly remembered the striking mixture of inhumanly bright blue and green that he’d been glaring into a few moments earlier, and cast a sharp glance up at Hanji. “Yeah. Why?” _My god, was he really her lover? He’d thought that kid was pathetically attempting to intimidate him, but did Hanji really…a booty call with someone that young and innocent…_ Levi fought back a shudder of disgust. The very thought of chemical-mixing Science-loving bordering on deranged Hanji in bed with a boy like that made him want to laugh and throw up. Preferably not at the same time.

“Oh my god, you ran into the second Levi! I was just _saying_ to him how passionate he was and how that reminded me of you and how I wanted to give him a chance-“

“What the hell are you talking about? Isn’t that kid one of Erwin’s visiting relatives or something?” 

_Hanji please say yes, please say yes, if you don’t say yes I’m going to assume you were having sex with him just now and I’m going to have to burn this whole room, please say yes, you fucking cougar-_

“Nope!” Hanji declared, cheerfully. “Don’t worry, you’ll meet him soon! Next week, if he decides to show up. I’m really excited-hey, Levi, where are you going? Hey, the bottle of Windex is over there! Levi!”

_Slam._

“My, Eren Jaeger, did you piss our second-in-command off already?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope you all liked that! I tried my best to convey Eren's trademark singular...angry-ness and inner conflicts. I confess it was a pain to write, but it was all worth it in the end because Levi finally shows up! Hanji is a precious little baby and must be protected. (So is Armin. If you think Armin is annoying get off this page and never return.) Remember to bookmark/subscribe if you'd like to be updated! I have so many things planned out for this story and I'm so excited that it's embarrassing.  
> My exam results are out this week oh no *miserable rocking*  
> You can find me on Tumblr at chlorinephantomhive, where I occasionally post little pieces of my writing and mainly reblog lots of frick frack diddly wack  
> See you next Tuesday!  
> -Audrey-


	3. Slice of Bittersweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a fine line between friend and enemy, thus the glorious creation of the one called a frenemy. Things progress. Armin may or may not have run into someone important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back again with more! Haven't updated in awhile but I definitely haven't lost the flow of the story. It's going to be so fun from this chapter onwards, omg *spastic movements*  
> It's currently about half past ten at night where I live and my school had netball carnival today so I'm tired as hell :-: BUT fanfiction always comes first and I'm so excited to hear what you think of this chapter.  
> Enjoy!

The rivalry between them went back months. Years, even.

 

“Jaeger?”

 

“Kirschtein.” The name rolled off his tongue quickly, as if he didn’t want to be tainted by it.

 

It hadn’t begun with much, just some suppressed jealousy and that fact that they simply didn’t get along, little spats that were trivial to say the least.

Then their relationship started to slide further downhill at a frightening pace. They started to exchange punches instead of insults, and went out of their way to sabotage each other the minute they saw the chance. From snarky jabs to lines filled with venom. Eren and Jean were a teacher’s worst nightmare, the two students you never wanted to be in a group together. A chemical combination destined to go awry.

 

Things got worse when Mikasa finally accepted Jean’s endless attempts to ask her out.

 

Even worse when Eren ranked higher in the class than Jean.

 

Worst when Jean started coming over for Jaeger family dinners, and Jean’s mom sent Eren large baskets of food with bows on them.

 

Needless to say, it hadn’t begun with much, but now they were just horrible.

 

They had gone to pains not to run into each other, though, and Eren hadn’t seen a wink of the other boy at all for about two months now. He supposed Jean had heard about his mother’s death.

 

“Come to rub it in?” Eren said, bitterly, even though he knew he was being unreasonable. “Now you’ve got something I don’t. Congratulations.”

 

“No, Eren…” Jean’s face was pale. “I wouldn’t…go that far. Honestly. You’re a dick but you don’t deserve that kind of treatment.”

 

A little shock ran through Eren. Wow, Jean had certainly changed. Or was it him who had? Become  distrustful enough to take it out on other people and assume the worst of them?

 

“Sorry.”

 

Jean nodded, and without a word, stepped through the doorway. “My mother wanted me to bring this as form of condolences,” he gestured to the platter of cake in his arms. “She says…what was it, again? Oh, that Mrs. Jaeger’s favourite cake was this and maybe eating it will bring back memories of her.” Eren felt a swell of peculiar emotion inside him, like a soft voice on the wind tugging and pulling at his insides. What was the word again? Bittersweet. It filled his body and made him want to curl up into a ball on the floor. “Thanks. I’ll tell Mikasa that you were here. Were you looking for her?”

 

“Is this your idea of a sick joke?” Jean rounded on Eren, face flushed. “You- you- I can’t believe it. Here I am trying to make amends with you for everything in the past and you just make fun of my failed relationship. What kind of-“

“Failed? What are you talking about?” Eren squinted, shaking his head. “I’m really not making fun of you or anything, what are you even saying?” Jean fell into an abrupt silence. “She…didn’t tell you?” Eren shook his head, bewildered.

 

“Tell me what?”

 

“We broke up. About a week ago, actually. You can go ahead and laugh, I knew you always wanted it to happen.” Eren gaped in shock. He’d been so preoccupied with himself that he hadn’t even noticed the change in Mikasa’s behaviour. _Eating less, frequently gazing into the distance, sitting on the couch in silence while I’m asleep…_ The signs were all there. He’d just been too stupid to realise it. And it was true, he’d never liked the fact that Jean was dating his sister, but he admitted that he liked seeing his sister with a rare smile on her face. Mikasa wasn’t exactly what you’d call approachable, more the cold beauty that boys admired from afar. Eren knew that, and Eren saw the mixture of awe and fear in their eyes- he’d often feel irritated at their lack of bravery, their shuffling feet and fleeting glances. Mikasa didn’t deserve anyone who was afraid of what they saw on her surface. So when his longtime enemy Jean was the one finally stupid enough to break through the barriers and blunder into Mikasa’s life, Eren had felt a small twinge of approval.

Just a small twinge.

 

“Honestly, Kirschtein? You and Mikasa…” Eren grit his teeth, mustering up the bravado to spit out his next sentence. Recalling the way Jean had said _Here I am trying to make amends with you for everything in the past._ Drawing from that and shaping his words into something that was his own. “…were kind of a cute couple.”

 

_Goddammit what did I even just say holy shit-_

Eren was not prepared for the sudden roar of laughter that burst from Jean’s chest. “My god, Eren, I knew you were lame, but not this lame…” It was hysterical, and it was uncontrollable, and Eren felt himself dissolve into wild peals of mirth. As if all the stress of the situation was melting away and here he was, standing beside his enemy, giggling like two pre-pubescent girls. He didn’t even know what he was thinking, what he was feeling, ignored the burning curiosity in his chest- _why did they end it?_ Because all Eren knew was the laughter and how good it felt. It was then that he started to realise that Jean looked actually human when he was laughing, the perpetual smug, shit-eating expression washed away in pure joy. _Huh, maybe Jean’s default mode isn’t complete asshole after all._

 

“She was the one who called it off,” Jean sighed, a trace of his previous amusement still lingering on his face as he abruptly changed the topic. “I…She said that she wasn’t up to this, that it wasn’t the right time…It just didn’t feel right, or natural. I suppose it wasn’t working between us.” Eren nodded, partly understanding, partly clueless because he’d never been in an actual relationship before. For the life of him, he’d never manage to tune in to romance and complicated feelings, because he could only focus on one straightforward thing at a time. Love? He preferred staying out of it. “Well I guess it was for the better. I don’t…didn’t, want her to stay trapped with me if she was unhappy.”

 

“Thanks. You’re not all that bad.”

And for the first time in a very long time they’d finally begun to put their rivalry at rest.

 

 

-

 

The sun shivered behind thick clouds, casting a weak light over Eren’s face as he settled on the park bench. Sugary crumbs dotted the area around his mouth, and in his hands was a half-eaten piece of the cake Jean had brought. It was sweet, tasted of honey and cherries and warm butter, and Eren instantly felt better. He’d been worrying too much lately, worrying about his future and his past and Mikasa and Armin and maybe even Jean, worrying about whether things were going to work out, whether he’d ever be a part of the Recon Corps, whether the serial killer on the loose had targeted another person. It was unrealistic to hope that he’d immediately be promoted to a spot on the team of detectives solving The Titan’s case, regardless of what Hanji had told him. No matter how high of hopes she had in his abilities, it was nothing against the eye of the law, and Hanji wasn’t even the top dog at the detective agency. Worrying, worrying, worrying. In a flash Eren’s mind had drifted back to his problems and the cake suddenly lost its flavour in his mouth. Worrying. 

 

All he could do now was wait for Hanji to call him. Wait, and prepare to try his hardest at the entrance exams. Wait and hope and really, really try his hardest not to worry.

 

“You okay, Eren?” 

Shooting up against the hard wooden planks of the bench, jolts of pain running through his shoulders. Turning his head so fast it caused a crick in his neck, “Yes-“

 

“Oh, thank god it’s you, Marco,” Eren breathed, shaking away his anxiety. Marco; permanently smiling, a light dusting of freckles over his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, the baker’s boy who helped out at the donut shop down the road. 

 

“I haven’t seen you around University lately. What’s up?” 

 

Eren froze. “Uh…family problems. I had to take a break from school. I’m also in the process of changing my university major, and I’m getting a part-time job…”

 

“Woah, Eren! That sounds hard, take it easy, okay?” Dark hair flopped into Marco’s eyes. “You do look angrier than usual.” A phone buzzed in Marco’s bag, and shifting his gaze to the screen, a wide smile dawned across his face. “Sorry, Eren, I have to go. I’m meeting my best friend at the movie theatre.” Eren noticed the slight flush that had spread across the boy’s cheeks, and started to doubt that the person in question was _just_ Marco’s best friend. Dilated pupils, shallower breaths, rapid eye movement…Eren could identify all the dubious signs that Marco was making, and he was proud of how perceptive he’d grown. Poring over all those dreary investigating journals had actually paid off.

 

“Wait, Marco, want some cake?” Eren leapt off the bench, determine to at least repay this being of sunshine and joy. “Jean gave it to me.”

  
  
“…Jean?” Marco scratched his head, a somewhat stiff smile on his face. “I…uh, I’ll pass.” Eren sensed something off about Marco. A small seed of uneasiness grew in the pit of his stomach. Had he said, done something wrong? Eren knew he spoke without a filter, and in the process he could easily upset people. He’d tried to change, of course, but all the discreet kicks from Mikasa couldn’t teach him. “Okay, have fun-“ Marco was already gone, boots scuffing heavily at the ground as he walked away. 

 

Eren scowled and mentally punched himself in the face. “ _No wonder you only have two friends, Eren,”_ A voice drifted into his head, uncannily familiar. Who’d said that? Right there, hovering on the fringes of his memory-

 

Ah. His dad. The realisation only served to make him more irritated, because he didn’t need more lessons on social skills from someone who was long gone. Dead or alive, he didn’t even know. 

 

Didn’t care, anyway.

 

Eren went back to worrying.

 

-

 

“You look like someone just peed in your cheerios! Did you get dumped?”

 

“You sound so fucking happy about the prospect of urine in my breakfast cereal. And no, for the last time, I’m not dating anyone.”

 

“Ah, Levi, don’t be like that! One day you’re going to see a pretty girl and she’s going to melt your heart and you’ll spend all day just imagining her face and her voice and her movements and hear her voice in your head, and at night you won’t be able to sleep because you’re thinking of her in your bed, in the empty space next to you, just snuggling and warming your lonely little heart, and your heart will start thumping at the mention of her name and each glance she sends you will make you die a thousand times over-“

 

“I’m going to get Mike.”

 

“Oh, you’re in love with _him?_ Well guys are fine too, I’m definitely not homophobic-“

 

“No, because I’m pretty fucking sure you’re doing drugs and he’ll be able to confirm it with one sniff.”

 

“NO! I’d never do drugs! They’d mess with my bloodstream and then I wouldn’t be able to experiment on myself anymore!” Hanji protested vehemently, leaning over the partition that separated her’s and Levi’s respective offices. “Anyway, why do you look so pissed?” Levi didn’t dignify her with any form of response, busying himself with tidying the files on his table. “Wait, let me rephrase that, I meant why do you looked even more pissed than usual?”

 

“He found cat urine in the lift,” a sweet voice drifted out from the corridor, a face framed by russet-brown hair poking out from behind the doorway. “I know because I heard him complaining all the way here.” Petra giggled, the noise completely drowned out by the roars of laughter that Hanji managed to produce. “Why would you even be mad about that? Cat urine is beneficial for your skin!”

 

“Let’s find out if punching you in the ovaries is beneficial to your skin,” Levi muttered darkly, eyes focused on his computer screen as his fingers flew across the keyboard. “For god’s sake, leave me alone.”

 

That was that. Levi had reached the point of no return, become a solid wall of stone that did not respond to anyone. Even Hanji knew that it was futile to pester him in this state, because he was literally less responsive than a rock. It was just him and his work and, not to forget, cleaning, “Because he might as well be dating his vacuum cleaner,” Hanji sulked. “There’s a bottle of acid waiting in the lab for me, anyway!” Petra withdrew her head from the doorway, shaking her head at the daily workplace antics, and Hanji vanished in a chattering whirlwind of glasses and red hair. Finally there was silence.

 

Finally, Levi could drown himself in the silken sheets of solitude, relax in the world of _no fucking noise._ His eyes scanned the documents on the screen, a brow arching when he came across the document for entrance exams that would determine their new recruits. Last year he’d been totally unimpressed, the youths coming across as blundering and dimwitted, and because Levi was Levi, they ended up not taking in any new trainees that year. Even Erwin Smith and his abnormally magnificent blonde eyebrows could not stop Levi in his warpath. The man literally oozed hostility and an aura of don’t-fucking-touch-me-or-I’ll-cut-you, and somehow, his diminutive height made him all the more intimidating. “It makes him closer to hell,” Hanji had once whispered, and everyone had viciously agreed. Now Levi dragged the document over to the trash icon on his desktop, having sworn to himself that he’d never engage in “Recruiting fresh talent” to the agency ever again-

 

“What are you doing?” 

 

Levi sighed. Couldn’t even get five minutes of peace.

 

“I told you, commander handsome, I’m not doing this shit anymore,” Levi jeered. Erwin sighed, folding his arms across his broad chest. “I am well aware of that fact, rest assured, but this year we’re trying a new tactic and you’re essential in overlooking it.” 

 

“What is it? Make them convince passers-by to buy ice cream? Is that your new intelligent scheme?”

 

“No, I wouldn’t do that,” Erwin said, completely missing the sarcasm, “I’m going to make them go out onto the field and experience apprehending crime for themselves.”

 

“What the _ever-loving fuck._ No, you’ve had bad ideas before, but this is fucking insane. They’re going to get their asses killed out there.”

 

“And that’s why I need you to make sure that they don’t!” Erwin exclaimed, looking delighted. The sneaky bastard. “Each one will be paired up with one of our professionals, in case anything goes awry. That’s where your role comes in, Levi.”

 

“No, no, no,” Levi moaned, slamming a fist against the surface of his desk, “Can’t you just stop forcing me to do things this once?”

 

“The last time I ‘forced you into doing something’, it landed you here, doing a job that you love. Better than living on the streets, in any case.”

 

Low blow, Erwin. Any other person would be hurt, but this was Levi. A mere eye roll, and he was over it. “So where will doing this land me? CEO of a food distribution company?”

 

“That’s for you to decide, Levi,” Erwin finished, a tone of finality in his voice. “And only you.”

 

-

 

“I can’t do this.”

 

“Can’t, or refuse to?” Eren sighed.

 

“Can’t. Absolutely can’t.”

 

“Listen, Armin, it’ll be fine. Weren’t you the one who wanted to find out your sexuality?”

 

“Yes, but not like this! Not at a meet-up with potential fifty-year-old perverts! Not where I won’t know a single person and am expected to strike up some kind of whirlwind romance with one of them!”

 

Eren stifled a laugh. “Armin, you can be such a drama queen at times. It’s just an event for singles to…mingle?” Eren winced at the awkward phrasing. “Listen, it’s not going to be dangerous. You’re going to be perfectly safe. I know the person who organised it, and I asked her for all the details. Plus, you’re not expected to immediately fall in love with someone! You’ll just get to know new people, and maybe even get some new friends.”

 

“Geez, Eren, it’s the first time I’ve heard you being so reasonable,” Armin forced a laugh, but Eren could practically feel how nervous the blond boy was. “Okay, I’ll do it. But you have to buy me the new extension for my telescope later-“

 

“Good, see you later.” Eren hung up promptly, silently wishing Armin all the best. Maybe he’d meet someone, maybe he wouldn’t. Eren just wanted Armin to open up and be less shy.

 

“Speaking of which, Eren, Armin isn’t the only one who needs to fix his personality,” Mikasa growled, and Eren visibly deflated. “You’re abrasive and rude and have probably the shortest temper I’ve ever seen in a person. Plus, you’re stubborn and no girl- I mean, guy- will ever like you because you never listen to what anyone says.”

 

“Thanks a lot, dearest sister of mine,” Eren scrunched up his eyebrows, “I don’t really care about love, anyway. It’s such a weak emotion- oh, shit, my phone is ringing.”

 

“EREN! I NEED YOUR HELP!”

“Armin, I thought you promised to do it!”

 

“I did! I tried, I really did! But then I saw this- this really- this guy, and I got really nervous, so I escaped to the nearest sanctuary.”

 

“Sanctuary?”

 

“Bunch of dumpsters out at the back.”

  
  
“Armin…are you…? Did you feel attracted to him?”

 

“I don’t know, I just had this tight constricting feeling in my chest, and I got really lightheaded, and at one point I really though I was going to pass out, and my palms are all sweaty now and I keep thinking of his face and I am feeling an actual physical ache in-“

 

“ _Armin, stop._ ”

 

“O…okay, um, well, what do I do now?”

 

“You’re asking me? You’re the logical one, you figure it out for yourself.”

 

“But-“

 

“Bye, Armin.”

 

Eren sighed and slid his phone back into his pocket, pondering over the fact that Armin might actually be gay. He himself had first realised his own sexual orientation one Friday night when Connie declared a party and accidentally dragged his entire group of friends into a gay bar. Strippers everywhere, in some cases involving actual whipped cream, and Mikasa had not been amused. Speaking of Mikasa, what had they been talking about…?

 

“Love is _not_ a weak emotion,” Mikasa jabbed Eren’s ribs with a deadly accuracy. “Stop trying to act all masculine.”

 

“I am _not,”_ retorted Eren, “I just feel that people who could have been stronger keep being made vulnerable by love. See, you for example…” Eren swallowed the guilt in his throat. “You’ve been subdued these past few days, Mikasa, and I know you’re skipping class.” 

 

“That’s an entirely different case. I broke up with Jean of my own accord. There wasn’t love in the equation anymore, maybe never at all.”

 

“Then why have you been so sad?”

 

“Eren, I’m not sad, I’m just trying to adapt to the fact that I no longer have a boyfriend. He was, regardless of my feelings, still a pillar of strength, you know?”

 

“Yeah, okay, whatever, but I’m sure somewhere out there there’s someone who’s been completely destroyed by love. Succumbing to it, being ruined inside and out by it. Why compromise yourself that way? I don’t understand!”

 

“It doesn’t work that way. Love isn’t something you can just equip.”

 

“It sure seems that way.” Eren brushed aside Mikasa’s heavy sigh, thumping up the stairs with more force than necessary. Mikasa shook her head. Her brother had filled the room with his own foolish perceptions and stained the walls with his stubbornness. Sometimes she couldn’t  remember why she put up with him.

 

She ran her hands over the material of her scarf.

 

But most times, she could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN GIVING ME AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I didn't think this would even get views but it has and I'll continue to update every Tuesday. I hoped you liked this chapter; it's kind of a filler but sets some things in motion even though you don't know it yet ;) As usual you can find me on Tumblr at chlorinephantomhive where I basically reblog all the shit that I adore (yes that consists of a lot of Ereri) and be my friend!!!  
> -Audrey-


	4. I'm Scared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Girl with the red scarf, past and present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyy guess who got the Birth of Levi: No Regrets manga??? That's right that's right THAT'S RIGHT IT'S ME CX  
> Today I went with the squad to a bookstore and it was really good to see my male friends again since I'm in a girl's school. I was actually planning to write much much more for this chapter, but it would be too long- so I split it into half and you only get to see Eren and Levi's meeting scene next Tuesday I'm sorry :-:  
> Although you'll get some Eremika feels in this one! (wow so sorry I feel like I'm betraying my fellow Ereri shipper kin)  
> Enjoy!

History mirrors itself.

_PAST_

_“Eren! Where are you going?”_

_“If those bullies think they’re going to hog the playground all to themselves, they’re wrong. I’m going to beat them all up.”_

_“Eren! They’re bigger, and stronger, and…thinking logically, you won’t be able to defeat them!”_

_“What does logically mean? Anyway, Armin, don’t worry about me. I’ll make all of them eat dirt!”_

_Shoes smacking against the tiles. Surprised shouts as shoulders are bumped, feet stepped on. Ripping a small, jagged path through the hordes of children. Angry growling._

_And a flash of red scarf. Silent, black hair whipping about, edges of a skirt fluttering. Following._

_“Oh look, it’s Eren again! Wants to get bruised all over a second time. We can’t deny him, can we, boys?”_

_Snickering. Thumping of fists against chests. Advancing. Smiles like rips in paper. Jeering._

_“Heck! Mikasa’s behind him!”_

_“We better run!”_

_Flustered whispers. Pushing, shoving, an attempt to disappear into the bushes. Panic._

_“Ha! The minute they saw me they ran! Chickens!”_

_“Uh…Eren?” Armin’s voice. “I don’t think…”_

_Mikasa puts a finger to her lips. Armin nods in comprehension. Too late. Eren whips around._

_“What the- Mikasa! What are you doing here?”_

_“Protecting you.”_

_“I don’t need to be protected! You’re not my mom! I was going to take down all of them by myself! See, I didn’t even need your help, they all escaped!”_

_“I don’t want you to get hurt.”_

_“Ugh, Mikasa! I’m fine. Okay? I’m fine.”_

_Bell ringing. Chatters. Streams of children around them. Bright eyes gleam with irritation._

_“Let’s go home.”_

History mirrors itself, because some things never change.

_PRESENT_

Eren clutched the phone between his hands in a death grip. “Yes, yes. Thank you, thank you so much. Yeah. Bye!” He collapsed on the sofa, a grin splitting his face in two. “You got a new girlfriend?” Armin said, absently, adjusting his reading glasses and peering down at a thick volume. “Better!” Eren cried, and had to rein in the childish notion of pumping his fist into the air. “I was invited to the Recon Corp’s entrance exam!”’

“Woah, woah, what?” Armin set the book down hastily and nearly ripped the glasses off his face, turning to face Eren. “That’s amazing!”

“I know! I know, I know.”

“You know Eren, I was thinking…”

“Eren.” A new voice made itself known. “I’ll join with you.”

“Stop fooling yourself, Mikasa, you know I won’t fall for that.”

“I’m serious. Eren, you’ll get hurt without me.” 

Armin’s cup of tea spilled onto the carpet. Eren shot up, glaring across the table at his adoptive sister. “No! No, stop treating me like a child! You always say you need to protect me, and be there for me, and watch over me- but you’re not…you’re not Mom, Mikasa! I’ll be fine on my own,” His voice trailed off before it cracked. A taut silence stretched between them.

“I just, I just-! I’m selfish, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt! I don’t want more of my family to get hurt!”

She had dropped a bomb, there, in the living room. Eren felt phantom shocks ripple through his limbs. Memories bombarded him from every corner. And finally, finally, he understood a little more about the silent, unstoppable force that was Mikasa Ackerman.

She was _scared_. She was scared too. He remembered the day when she had lost her parents, because he’d been there as well.

The sky had been lemon-yellow, the road dusty and echoing with good-natured laughs from people across the street. Eren and his mother had been driving, driving towards the beach house where they spent their summers. This year was the first year Grisha wasn’t in the car with them, but they didn’t let that fact weight heavy in the air. Everything had been fine, Carla asking Eren about school, Eren talking about the soccer team that he had joined, how everyone in the class was getting crushes on girls and he was sick and tired of it. Then out of the corner had come a small blue car bouncing along the road, passing their own, seemingly headed straight on-

Boom. Eren yelped and squirmed out of his seatbelt, clambering to his knees on the car seat and looking out of the rear window. Carla stopped the car immediately.

The blue car had a new addition. The bumper was split into half by a lamppost, the front of the car almost completely crumpled. Making it sickeningly similar to a crushed drinking can. There were decorations in the car windows, decorations in the form of cracks that sullied the windows and made the passengers inside unable to be seen. Cracks that sent shards of glass exploding onto the ground. Cracks that were slowly being filled up with…blood?

Carla flung open the back car door and shook Eren’s shoulders. “Don’t look,” she said, and her voice was strained with a paralysing fear. “Stay here.” Eren looked at his mother and realised that she was slightly blurred. Was there something wrong with his eyes? No. It was his body that was shaking, shaking and shaking and not stopping. Carla dialled for an ambulance, words forcing their way out of her pale lips. She looked ten years older. Eren wanted to bury his head in the seat and never open his eyes until they were miles away from the drinking can blue car. But something made him look up.

That was when he saw it. Out of the third window hung the upper torso of a girl, maybe his age, but he couldn’t tell with the blood that marred her face. Most of her hair hung over her face. And her arm…her arm was impaled on the edges of the cracked car window. Fighting back vomit, Eren tried to take a closer look. He’d learnt in school, from first aid class, that if someone was bleeding severely, they could die if it weren’t stopped. And the girl was already unconscious. Yet…yet her arm continued to spurt scarlet fluid.

“Mom!” A screamed ripped its way out of Eren’s throat. “Mom…” He pointed a shaky hand in the girl’s direction, and the wrinkles around Carla’s eyes deepened. “I told you not to look, Eren,” her voice was like steel, “There’s nothing we can do about it now. The professionals are on their way. We…we have to leave her be.”

“We can’t!” Eren half shrieked, and Carla stared, concerned, because his voice was wild with desperation. “She’ll die!” 

“No, Eren, there’s nothing we can do- EREN!”

In a flash he was out of his car and the hot wind was whipping his cheeks and his feet were thumping, thumping against the ground in sync with his heartbeat, and his ribcage was aching and his lungs were burning and he fought back the nausea when he smelt blood, their blood, and forced himself to run all the way to the window of the blue car. He heard nothing, saw nothing, except the girl hanging out of the window with her eyes closed and the wound in her arm open. He desperately recalled what his teacher had told them and nearly cried in relief when pieces of information flew into the forefront of his mind. Yes, that was it, he had to make a tourniquet, wrap it around the girl’s arm, stem the bleeding. Or she’d die. That very thought alone sent more energy rushing into his limbs, doubling the speed of his actions as he scrambled for a piece of fabric. His scarf! He ripped it off from around his throat, feeling the wind buffet his naked neck, fingers slippery with cold sweat. Gingerly, he lifted her arm- good, it was still warm- and wound his red scarf tightly around the injured limb. The red against her pale skin made a striking contrast, and Eren tried to ignore the fact that the colour of his scarf was changing. Red, to a darker red. He had never imagined that one day his scarf would be dyed with blood. Tying it off with a knot, Eren surveyed her arm with a critical eye and deemed it satisfying, collapsing onto his knees. He hoped that was enough. He hoped…that would stop her from dying. He hoped…

Then a pair of arms clamped around his waist and he was dragged, violently, backwards.  
 _Why did you do that?_  
He thought his mother was shouting at him. He couldn’t be sure. The trauma of what he had just done made the noise around him sound distorted and fuzzy at the edges, as if he were underwater. He turned, in a daze, to look at her, and briefly registered that there were tear tracks on her face.  
 _Why didn’t you listen to me?_  
Why was she crying? Eren didn’t understand. Her features were contorted into a mask of fear and anger. Why was she afraid? Why was she angry?  
So many questions.  
His mother seemed so very, very far away now. His sight was starting to blur. He could faintly make out her expression morphing into one of panic. Her lips opened, closed, rapidly, and she put a hand to his forehead. He could only feel a light, distant pressure. His body was numb.  
Why was she worried?  
Black smudges started to appear across his field of vision. All he could see now was the girl with the red scarf smudged with blood, hanging out of a shattered window.

And everything drifted away into the darkness.

He had woken up in the hospital with his mother by the bedside. “You saved her life, Eren,” Carla had whispered, and then enfolded him into her arms. “But I was so worried. You could have injured yourself. There was glass all over the place!” She sighed. “Oh, Eren. My brave, brave, stupid little boy. Why didn’t you listen to me when I told you to stay in the car?”

Eren had let the events of that morning flood into his mind. _Blue car. Lamppost. Girl. Broken. Red scarf_.

Then he let a wavering, cheeky smile spread across his face.

“If I had listened, she wouldn’t be alive now!”

Carla hadn’t known whether to laugh or cry. In the end, she chose to do both, Eren joining in with wails of his own. “I was- so scared- she might have died! She didn’t- die! I was- so- scared-“

“But, Eren, her parents died. Because of you she was able to live on.”

Eren fell into a somber silence, broken occasionally by his own sniffles. “But…where will she go, now?”

Carla pondered it for awhile, but couldn’t come up with an answer. It took a few sleepless nights, but she pondered it until she could.

And the rest was history. Eren was discharged from the hospital after several sessions with a child counsellor, to deal with his ‘potential trauma’. He found himself wondering whether the girl had healed. He returned to school, swarmed with children who demanded to know how it felt like being questioned by the police, asking him if he had a cast that they could sign. They sighed when he said it wasn’t anything special, and a few signed on his forehead in markers anyway. Meanwhile, Carla was signing documents of her own.

There finally came the day when the sentence was uttered.

“Her name is Mikasa Ackerman, and she’s going to be your new sister!” 

Eren had stared incredulously at his mother. “Who-?”

Then his mother had moved aside, revealing the girl behind her. She was staring straight at him.

Eren scanned her delicate features, her black hair made of raven’s wings, her porcelain-white skin. Then his eyes came to rest on the red scarf wrapped around her neck.

“Your name is Eren, right? They told me you saved me…”

In a flash he was out of his seat and the gentle breeze was whispering against his cheeks and his feet were thumping, thumping against the ground in sync with his heartbeat, and his ribcage felt light and his lungs were filled with sweet air and he smelled a scent of rose and cedar and musk, her scent, and he ran all the way to Mikasa and wrapped his arms around her slender frame.

“I’m so glad you’re alive!”

-

Now Eren looked at Mikasa, and marvelled. Eight years had passed since then. The red scarf was still around her neck. And he finally understood why she had always been so keen to protect him.

She was scared. She was scared of losing more people she loved. She was scared that she would be alone again. And now that she had not only lost her parents, but also her second mother, she was more afraid than ever.

“It’s not that you’re weak, Eren! I just don’t-“  
 “I know. I know now. We’ll join the Recon Corps. Together.”

Silence. Mikasa searched Eren’s face, frantically, and when she realised that he was telling the truth her own face crumpled.

“…Thank you.”

And from her eyes Eren could tell that she wasn’t just thanking him for understanding.

Armin cleared his throat. “Eren, I’m joining the Recon Corps too. We’re friends, and through all these years you’ve tried to be strong for me. Now this is me being strong for you. Please…don’t object. This is my decision, and I’ve thought for a long time about it.”

There was so much Eren wanted to say. But Armin, you were going to be a doctor. Armin, you don’t have to do this for me. Armin, you’ve already been strong in your own ways. But he swallowed every word, because he could hear the resolve in Armin’s voice that hadn’t been there before. And secretly, he was glad that Armin would be by his side.

“Okay. Let’s do this.”

“Wait, what- really? I predicted a strong objection! I formulated a structured argument for this, complete with rebuttals! Look, I typed it all out-”

History mirrors itself, because some things never change- but some things will change for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! I had some trouble with the flashback scenes because I had to make it in depth without being too complex, and there are a lot of important messages in this chapter which I hope you can sift through the words to find. Next chapter features the two absolute shitheads and lots of t e n s i on so stay tuned and see you next Toosday!  
> -Audrey-  
> P.S. REMEMBER TO FIND ME AT chlorinephantomhive ON TUMBLR WHERE I RULE OVER THE INTERNET


	5. Exam Anxiety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New characters make an appearance, Hanji is an evil genius, and Eren runs into someone he thought he'd never meet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I didn't post last Tuesday, this chapter was long and pretty hard to write. I hope I was successful, though. My friend went to Osaka and bought me Levi merch!!! Apparently there was this walkway with Ereri yaoi plastered all over the walls, and my friend was kind of scarred, but I would have been screaming and ripping all the posters down so I could buy them. Heck if my parents would be dubious, because no one can stand between me and homoland.

Ready.

He didn’t think he’d ever be.

That word, and all it encompassed-

He never thought he’d make it this far.

It was as if, as if, he was standing on a precipice, and before, when all he saw was empty air, now there was a cliff on the other side.

All he had to do was make the jump.

He was ready.

_1, 2, 3-_

“You sure this is the place?” Armin fidgeted nervously, wiping his sweat off on the cuffs of his sleeves. “It looks rather rundown, to me.” Eren nodded, trying to ignore his own clammy palms. “Mikasa and I were here to be interviewed as official witnesses. It’s fine. Trust me, it looks much better inside than it does from the outside.” Somehow, Armin doubted that, peering at the shabby exterior of the building tucked away into a deserted little alley. Eren took a deep breath, puffed it out, then turned to them and nodded. “I’m glad you’re here with me. Let’s all try our best.”

Somehow they knew they all would.

Eren pushed open the glass doors and they disappeared into the building.

Armin grew more anxious with each passing second. The lobby they were in was dark, damp and seemingly empty, the broken light fixtures on the ceiling flickering irregularly. It smelled of mildew and…was that dog food? Holding back a shudder, the blonde increased his pace, ensuring that he didn’t so much as brush the mouldy yellow walls. Could this be a false front of some kind? From Eren’s description, the Recon Corps detective agency seemed quite shady, something the law turned to only when they were in desperate need of help. They dealt with the cases so bloody the police wouldn’t touch it, crimes so complex the best investigators couldn’t so much as crack, and it turn, the law turned a blind eye to the covert, rather questionable operations that the Recon Corps carried out. Armin wasn’t sure exactly what that was, but he’d done some late night research, and he was positive it involved experimentation on weapon technology and gathering data. The country was going through times of political murkiness, and Armin highly suspected what the Recon Corps did was defense on their part. So, perhaps, this shabby exterior was a disguise to turn away unwanted visitors unless they knew exactly where they were headed. Taking deep breaths, Armin reassured himself that he was right, and where Eren had dragged him was not an illegal drug den.

Pushing open a set of heavy double doors, Eren revealed that Armin was right.

The lobby practically sparkled. Spots of gold illuminated the hardwood floors, everything polished and untarnished in the least. Red velvet lounging chairs were set artfully around an antique coffee table, and Armin noted that the vase of flowers sitting atop it had been freshly replaced. _They pay attention to details._ Eren scuffed his shoes against the squeaky floor as he strode over to the receptionist’s counter, a woman with russet-brown hair that appeared more gold under the light. Eren had been relatively quiet in his approach, but she immediately looked up from her computer, a large smile lighting up her face. “What can I do for you?”

Armin observed this. The receptionist was obviously highly trained and ready to defend herself if needed, from the way her eyes flickered over each of their bodies in mere seconds. _Probably checking for concealed weapons._ The smile on her face was sincere, but Armin could see by her posture that she was tense and ready to spring into action. It was, to say the least, impressive.

Eren cleared his throat, “We’re here for the entrance exam. Miss.”

“Oh! Please proceed to the conference hall on the second level.” The receptionist seemed to relax, popping a lozenge into her mouth as she grinned and leant forward. “Good luck, all of you!”

“Thanks, Miss…uh…” Eren blurted, Mikasa already striding off towards the elevator without a second thought. “You can call me Petra. See ya!”

Armin definitely hoped so. Since young, Eren and Mikasa had always been the ones protecting him. Now he would fend for himself. He knew they meant well, but he wasn’t going to be left behind again.

They made their way up, briefly admiring the plush carpeting in the elevator. “I swear it wasn’t there before,” muttered Eren, “Someone’s paying a lot for an interior designer.” And finally, after walking down an endless hallway, trying not to leave marks on the spotless marble, they were in front of the door that would lead them to their fates. Mikasa stared resolutely forward, as if trying to burn through the door with her eyes alone. Eren didn’t doubt her ability to.

Took a deep breath. _Don’t use the fear against you, let it spur you on,_ he thought. Swallowed hard.

Beside him, Armin had thrown away his anxiety, gears in his mind ready to spin, while Mikasa, unperturbed as usual, gazed cooly ahead. They were all unprepared for what they might face, completely clueless about the ordeals that might await them. But Eren knew that that didn’t matter. All they had to do was be ready.

Before they could react, someone pulled open the door from the inside, but just as they were passing through the entryway, the door was pushed heavily back and nearly smashed Eren on the temple. “Jeez, be careful!” Eren growled, looking to the left to face the culprits. A girl stood guiltily there with a burger held tightly in her fist, a smear of ketchup around her mouth. Her eyes were bright and alert, open almost comically wide, a tendril of brown hair having come loose from her ponytail and winding around her ear.“Mmmpf sorry!!! ‘as himmf-“ She jabbed accusingly to a patch of empty air by her side, “Heesh mmfault!” Eren could only stare, taken aback by how ferociously…upbeat she was. As if her movements were sped up, she whipped to her right and, finding no one there, started flushing red in the face with frustration. With a humongous swallow, she inhaled a deep breath of air and-

“CONNIE! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” Then, turning back to Eren with her hands splayed in a gesture of infuriation, “I’m really really reeeeaaalllyyy sorry, I was opened the door and was trying to shove that little prick out but he slammed it back on you and now he’s disappeared and you ere nearly hurt and I’m so so so sorry, I’ll give you half…no, maybe a quarter of this burger and we’ll call it even, all right?” Eren only registered about twenty percent of the words that were streaming from her mouth, those namely being “shove…prick…burger”, and the mental image that was created in his mind as a result nearly made him throw up. “I get it, I forgive you!” Holding his palms up as if to ward off her intense, pleading stare, he tried to back away. Then failed.

“My name’s Sasha! Sasha Braus, nice to meet you, what’s your name!” Eren took the hand that she shot out, and shook it warily. “Uh…Hi, I’m Eren Jaeger and I’m here to try out for the recon corps too.”

“Oh, speaking of which, isn’t this place amazing? I…” The rest of her words trailed away as Eren realised that he’d been so absorbed in Sasha’s frenzy of movements that he hadn’t even _thought_ to pay attention to his surroundings. It made made him spin around almost urgently, as if trying to make up for the first few seconds when he’d entered and didn’t pay the rest of the room any heed.

They didn’t call it a conference _hall_ for nothing. Eren drank in everything before him with his eyes wide open, lips parting to let out an awed whistle.The space was cavernous, ceiling arching high over their heads, so high he could hardly make out the cloud murals that covered it. Warm lights glowed from the space where the large walls met the ceiling, casting a comfortable but somewhat glamorous glow onto the polished rosewood floor. People around his age or older milled around, some huddling in groups, some exploring the spacious area on their own, the buzz of nervous chatter rising in the air. And right at the forefront was a grand stage, rising seven steps up, a sleek podium on the right side, a white piano on the other. The crimson curtains hung, draped, on either side, concealing the people who would be waiting side-stage. Eren felt his heart pound. He was glad of it, though, because without his heartbeat keeping him grounded, he was sure he’d dissolve into a fine mist and scatter under the weight of it all. This extraordinarily large hall, all these people, going to take the test with him…his competitors…Eren tried to breathe normally again. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to, because the sheer importance of this room was enough to suck the air from his lungs.

“Yo, are you okay, Eren? You look kinda pale! Did you eat enough?” Sasha shrieked with horror, then leant down to press her ear against Eren’s stomach, checking for signs of hunger. Jittery, Eren sprang away at the sudden contact, arms flailing. “Woah, woah, woah! Bring out the buffet, the boy’s gotta eat! And so do, I for that matter…” Sasha mused.

“No, no, I don’t need to eat, it’s fine. I’m just…” Eren gulped, unsure of whether to spill out his emotions to an overly cheerful girl he’d only just met.

“Scared?”

Eren’s eyes shot open.

“Of course you’d be scared! I am, too! Quick, feel my wrist,” Sasha pulled Eren’s hand to hers, and the first thing he felt was that it was _trembling._ And she made no move to conceal it, instead pressing his fingers to the slight indenture where her pulse was more noticeable. Eren noted that it was fast, incredibly so, and now that he focused he could hear how rapid her breathing was. Sasha…apparently even a girl as fluttery and lighthearted as her could be affected by the slow, demanding, crushing pull of fear.

“See? I bet you, everyone in this whole place is scared! You just gotta keep on going, and think of all the food that’s waiting for you when you get out. It’s not so bad, you see?” Eren looked at the brunette in a new light, and he saw, underneath all of her cheerful layers, that her spirit was undeniably strong.

“Thanks, Sasha,” he finally let a grin spread across his tense face. He wasn’t so good around strangers, or talking to them, but something about her made him feel as if it would be all right. At that moment, a scrawny boy with a buzzcut leapt onto Sasha’s back, hands scrabbling at her shoulders to find a good hold. “Hey! Who’s this guy? I’m Connie Springer, undeniable champion of the potato wars!” Sasha retaliated by blowing a raspberry into his exposed ear, and before long Eren found himself talking and laughing with them. Somehow, somehow, they’d managed to dissipate his initial wariness. Armin got absorbed into the conversation, blue eyes shining with excitement as he discussed the merits of GM crops with Sasha, then even the ever stoic Mikasa, showing off her karate skills by effectively countering Connie midair when he tried out a new kick he’d learnt in judo club. A few people stopped to watch, attention caught by the noise and antics, and that was how, in the span of fifteen minutes, Eren got to know a burly boy called Reiner and his uneasy-looking friend, Bertholdt, who both seemed easy to get along with. Strange, really, because Eren had never expected to actually talk to anyone here, even striking up friendships in the process. It was unexpected, but it felt…good.

He’d almost forgotten the reason why he was here in the first place when the shrill sound of microphone static spiked through the air and pierced his eardrums. “Attention! Welcome to the Recon Corps Criminal Investigation Agency. All of you here have come to take our entrance exam. You may have seen the advertisements on a bulletin board, you may have heard about it through a friend or a teacher, you may have been recommended to take the test by our scouts who were sent to various universities nationwide. But to make things clear, there are roughly two hundred of you standing in this room- and only ten will make it through.” Several gasps were heard throughout the crowd, grim murmurs mixing with hushed talk. Eren had anticipated this, but he still felt a stone in the pit of his stomach as the truth was blared out over the speakers. Looking up for the source of the voice, he could find none.

“And I assure you, even after you make it in, things are not going to be easy. You’ll receive rigorous training from more experienced colleagues, and you may not be qualified to do field work. Your potential will be assessed, your progress tracked monthly, and if you are deemed unable, you will not be able to work on more difficult cases. In some cases, you will be kicked out. Think, carefully, whether you have the resolve to go through with this.” Eren clenched his fists, veins standing out prominently even against his tanned skin. “This is a dangerous and demanding job. Your salary is not fixed, with the exception of those in high positions. For the rest, your income is dependent on how much you are able to contribute. Your working hours, similarly, are not concrete. You will be called to work on weekends, on holidays, even minutes after you leave the office to head home. You are provided with health insurance, obviously, but the frightening part is, nine out of ten times the insurance is valid.”

The colour drained out of people’s faces. If there was ever a time for second thoughts, this was it. Doubt filled the air like a deadly fragrance, worming down peoples’ throats and whispering into their ears.

_Don’t do it._

_It’s not worth the risk._

_You’re going to suffer, for the rest of your life._

_You can’t even handle blood, how are you going to handle your job?  
Dad already warned you once, you’re too weak. _

_Might as well give up now._

_Go on, become an executive at an engineering company like your parents want you to._

And once a single seed of doubt appears, it feeds on people’s unfounded worries and expands, growing in the host’s brain until they can’t take it any longer.

They run away from what causes the doubt.

“Do you still want to take this test?”

-

In the main office, several existing members of the Recon Corps listened to the ominous speech with identical expressions of amusement. “Erwin really knows how to put on a good show, doesn’t he?” Hanji marvelled, “He’ll scare all of them away, though, then who will we have left?”

“Better they know now than chicken out later.” Levi deadpanned, picking at his cuticles. “They all change their minds so easily it’s annoying.”

“By ‘they’ do you mean the kids twenty years younger than you, old man?” Hanji leered, spectacles glinting, and everyone in the room tried to conceal their laughter. Levi was a scary, scary person when he was angry, and only Hanji was- brave, or stupid, enough to risk it. As expected, the already frowning man glowered as he turned towards the offending woman. “You’re the one who likes sinking your claws into younger men, maybe it makes you feel like a teenager again?”

Hanji frowned in bemusement. “What are you talking about? I’ve never dated anyone younger than me. I’ve never dated anyone, for that matter!”

“Don’t play fucking dumb with me, you cougar.”

Auruo cleared his throat, puffing out his chest. “Y-yeah, you pedophile.”

“ _Who’s_ a pedophile now?” Came the shriek. “I mean, I do want to experiment on kids, but only as test subjects, you hear? STRICTLY professional!”

Erd sighed. “Man, if Petra knows Auruo tried to act like the corporal again she’s going to blow her top.”

“Where’s Petra, anyway?” Gunther asked, and Erd made a lazy gesture at the floor. “Downstairs working receptionist duty again.”

“Ha, yeah, she’s the only one relatively normal enough to pass off as a receptionist.”

“What, _I_ can’t be a receptionist too?” Hanji butted into the conversation, pouting, “Are you saying you’re underestimating me?”

Gunther gulped his Hanji’s fingers made a beeline for his throat. “No, ma’m, definitely not, no, I didn’t say that.”

Hanji’s pleased reply was interrupted by loud blaring from the speakers,

“If you’ve changed your mind, you’d better take your leave now, while you still can!”

\- 

Back in the conference hall Eren looked around him as several people started to slink towards the exits in shame, then the stragglers morphed into a small stream of people leaving in frightened whispers. By the end, only about half of the original number were left. He was pleased to see that Sasha, Connie, Reiner and Bertholdt remained, and Armin didn’t seem too ruffled by the speech. Eren stood, fixed in place with sheer determination, ready to take on whatever challenge presented itself to him. Focus on the front. Focus on the future. And he was glad he did, because it was at that precise moment that the owner of the voice booming from the speakers decided to appear onstage.

Several things about the man jumped out at Eren.

Firstly, he was tall. Well built. Broad shoulders, confident stance. Imposing.

Secondly, his eyebrows looked like they had been scribbled on by the thickest marker known to mankind.

Thirdly, he was extraordinarily neat. Hair cut, shirt cuffs rolled, tie in place, shoes polished.

Fourthly, his eyes shone with a kind of shrewd intelligence that Eren had only seen in one person before, that being Armin.

Fifth and last, the intimating aura that surrounded him was thick to the point of being visible. This man radiated nobility, radiated a sense of humble, but extremely commanding, power. This man was not afraid of anything, because he probably planned everything meticulously first. This man was good, but he was dangerous.

“I’m Erwin Smith, head of the Recon Corps Criminal Investigation Agency, and I hope I have made myself clear about what you should be prepared for if you choose to make endeavours to obtain a position here. That is all I have to say for now, and I will be monitoring your progress later on through live feed. Good luck.”

Everyone’s eyes were wide as they watched the darkness swallow up Erwin Smith. The man was gone as quickly as he had appeared. Eren had a feeling it would always be that way, for people like him. His aura was too strong to be around, and even when it had disappeared you could feel traces of it pulsing against your skin. There were people like him, and then there were also people like…

“ _Aloha!_ It’s _so good_ to see so _many_ of you here! My name is Hanji Zoe. I’m in charge of the forensic science department, but don’t worry, it’s _much_ less boring than it sounds. I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for a _reeeaallly_ long time, so I’m here to explain the rules of the entrance exam to you!”

Eren let out a sharp breath. Finally.

The excited woman waltzed around the stage before sitting, cross-legged, to peer at the slightly bewildered audience. “Each of you are here because you want to pursue a career related to investigation. You might be going out into the field and getting your hands dirty, or analysing results back in a lab or a fancy schmancy office, but in the end, what you accomplish in your job is suuuuuuper important to humanity. Oh, I just sounded like Erwin,” Hanji giggled to herself, “So we thought, if you can’t even handle a little test, how are you going to handle a job here? Plus, we want to judge your ability. Intelligence is not enough; you need teamwork, and you need to be cunning, and you need to be flexible. So this entrance exam will be to solve an actual criminal case!”

She clapped her hands, which rang out in the stunned silence that had fallen over the hall. “Aren’t you _excited_?”

Eren felt his stomach drop. A real crime?

Beside him, Armin was drowning in panic and confusion.

Why would the Recon Corps risk so much just to hold an entrance exam? There were bound to be casualties, bound to be irreversible consequences. This was a legitimate mission they were talking about here. Why would they risk their reputation just for them?

Because they were desperate.

Armin suspected that the Corps had not been able to recruit a large pool of talent for the past few years. _That_ was also one of the reasons why Hanji had been willing to bend the rules for Eren! Armin realised that no matter how much potential Eren showed as a detective, if his mother had died a few years ago, Eren would never be allowed involvement in a case regarding her. But now, for the sake of preserving the Recon Corps’ excellent reputation, Hanji would do anything in her power to make it so.

They wanted fresh blood. They wanted fresh, _talented_ blood.

And so, in order to obtain that, they were going to make the test much more difficult.

Erwin Smith was a man who was willing to take risks.

Armin whispered his theory to Eren, but he didn’t respond. Maybe silence was the best thing they needed now. Silence felt safer.

“But, of course, we don’t want you getting too hurt! So each of you are going to be paired up with an existing member of the Recon Corps, who will accompany you during your exam. Try not to beat each other up! We got a call from an anonymous source yesterday reporting that several important office documents have been going missing from Shinganshina Hospital, and the contents all involve patient data. Resources have been made able to you, but you’ll have to figure out the right people to ask. Remember that you can’t ask your partner for help! They’re just there to make sure you don’t die.” Someone beside Eren sniggered, and Eren’s eye twitched. _Not fucking funny._ “By the way, I didn’t mention the duration of the test, did I? You have until…Let’s see, 8pm today.”

The silence was broken, incredulous gasps bouncing off the walls of the hall. “You gotta be kidding me?” “It’s not enough time!” “ Impossible…We’re not even trained!” Hanji tutted and waved a hand in the air, trying to appease the agitated crowd. Eren kept silent, because he knew if he opened his mouth, too many words would come out. “And that’s why the earlier you start, the more chance you have of actually making it! Your name will be called out, followed by your partner’s name. Wait- hold on-“ Hanji cringed at the shouts of “We don’t even _know_ anyone here!”, responding with a half shriek, “So get sociable and the faster you find your partner the faster you can leave! Erwin said a detective’s gotta be flexible, right? All part of the test!” A huge pocket of breath gushed out of Hanji’s mouth as she scratched her head worriedly. Eren could practically hear what was going on in her mind. At this rate, no one will pass the test.

And then she began to call out names.

“Arlet, Armin!”

His name was the fourth or fifth down the list, and Eren placed a comforting hand on the pale boy’s shoulder. “You’ll be partnered with…oh! You lucky child, you get to go with Erwin Smith himself!” A few pitying “oooh”s echoed throughout the room, but everyone was too preoccupied with their imminent fate to pay attention. Meanwhile, Armin fought a devastating battle in his own stomach to prevent the stream of vomit that threatened to be expelled. “Ah…I’ll…see you…later…” Eren stared anxiously as Armin half staggered away into the throngs of people. “You think he’s going to be okay?” Mikasa nodded firmly. “He has that brain of his. Now worry about yourself.” _That’s right._

“Kefka, Franz!” Eren gulped. Hanji was already down to F, and at the moment he was too jittery to recall the order of the alphabet, but at least he knew what letter came after F.

“Jaeger, Eren!”

He had braced himself, but hearing his name uttered out loud still gave him a shock. “Eren” rang throughout the room. He slowed down his breathing, stopped the fire running through his veins from being blown out by the wind of nerves. He felt the energy inside him. Knew that he was strong, strong enough to take them all down. He would pass this test.

“Your partner is Levi Ackerman.”

If Hanji were alone right now, she would be snickering uncontrollably. Sure, Erwin had _asked_ for the partnering selection to be random, but _maaayybee_ she’d rigged it a little so that Levi and Levi 2.0 were together. The howling ice and the raging fire- _oooh, you’re such an evil genius, Hanji, I always knew everyone was born for a purpose, and with this you have achieved your purpose._ _Why hasn’t Erwin promoted you yet?_ Oh, wait- she was already the head of her department. Hanji hid most of her grin behind the microphone. _Whoops._

Eren sincerely hoped this Levi Ackerman was a mild, cooperative person who wouldn’t get in his way. He needed the operation to be carried out as smoothly as possible. Levi sounds like a submissive name, I hope I’m right- Eren bid goodbye to Mikasa and-

Woah, wait.

_ACKERMAN?!_

But Mikasa had already hugged him and left, red scarf trailing behind her. Had she not heard? Was he a relative of hers? Perhaps it was a coincidence. Eren decided to make his way out of the hall, where a steady line of people whose names had been read out were already going. He had one destination in mind, and that was the receptionist’s counter- Hanji didn’t say he couldn’t ask for any help, could he? Petra seemed like a nice enough woman.

Eren’s brain was already turning, saving keywords in his mind for future reference. “Shiganshina hospital…patient data…office records.”

“What did you say, sir? Oh! You’re the boy from just now! Weren’t you here for the entrance exam!” 

“Yes, ma’m- Petra. About that, do you know where I can find someone called Levi? Levi-“

“Oh!” Petra muffled a grin. “You don’t need to say his full name, there’s only one Levi here and he’s famous. He’s the vice-head of the Recon Corps, see.”

Eren started, pondering this new information. Good! So Levi would be experienced in the field. He’d learn as much as he could. “Yeah, he’s my partner for the exam…” 

Petra’s eyes lit up even more. “Ahaha- Sorry, this is so funny.” She must have seen the confusion on Eren’s face, because she stopped giggling for a while to explain. “Levi…he’s just not the kind to be partnering, you know? Pffft-“ Her face was red from laughing. “You can find him on the third floor, probably in the lounge. Good luck with him!”

Waving her odd hysterics aside, Eren thanked Petra and sprinted up the staircase. Waiting for the elevator would take too much time, which he didn’t have right now. Ah, the third floor. More white corridors, the occasional potted plant, the logo of blue and white wings which Eren recognised as the agency’s logo…

The lounge. A few people milled around, some awkward introductions taking place already. Eren could pick out which ones were employees here, because of the dark, high-collared coats with rows of gold buttons. He wasn’t one for fashion, but the uniform looked…good. Sleek. Different.

He was prepared to shake off the last vestiges of self consciousness and shout out his partner’s name, when his eyes, scanning the elegant room, slid onto another pair of eyes.

It wasn’t just one of those half hearted glances you make with strangers before looking away. It was an instant connection that nearly _snapped_ into place, a spark of something that shot through the air and made Eren’s spine go rigid.

_He’d seen these eyes before._

Grey. Cold. Hypnotising.

Even from across the room Eren felt like he was looking into a wintery hell that beckoned with promises unlikely to be kept.

Wait- these eyes, they belonged to-

“ _Asshole cleaner!”_

_“Hanji’s boytoy?”_

Both of them spoke at the same time, shock and horror laced through their voices respectively. Eren shook his head, breaking the connection, and let his eyes wander angrily across the face of the cleaner who’d pissed him off so much the other day. The first time they’d met he’d been wearing a white face mask, but now his face was uncovered. And Eren drank the sight in.

Sharp, but delicate, cheekbones. Slender nose, almost straight to the point of being severe but not quite. A sloping jaw that tapered into a defined chin. Lips that were currently pursed so they formed a tense white line. And those eyebrows, creased in an expression so scornful it out-intimidated even Erwin Smith.

Those features combined produced a man who was somehow scary _and_ scarily good-looking at the same time. It wasn’t just his eyes that were beautiful, because he radiated a sort of cold, elegant handsome that looked almost otherworldly, accentuated by his undercut and the jet-black fringe that hovered over his thin eyebrows.

But Eren was _pissed,_ outright irritated, and failed to fully comprehend the fineness of the specimen he was in a death stare match with. “ _What_ did you call me?”

“Did I fucking stutter? You’re Hanji’s boytoy, aren’t you?”

Eren suddenly remembered what he’d said to the cleaner the other day. “ _It’s just my personal opinion…but I feel that Zoe’s love life is none of your business, is it?”_

Mother of- Eren swore in his mind, determined to pummel himself into the ground once he was free from all this. This was most definitely the god of karma come to kick him right in the ass. Oh, he regretted that smug tone he’d used, he didn’t think he’d ever see this cleaner again, and now they were face to face and- oh, Armin, Mikasa, hell, even _Jean,_ please save me from this mess- Eren cleared his throat and stared the other man in the eye.

“You pissed me off, so I made a joke. Hell no am I…Miss Hanji’s…” Eren choked on the word, “L-Lover. That’s so gross.”

“At least one thing we can agree on, then,” The cleaner’s face was a mask of complete disinterest, save the disgust that showed in his curled mouth. “And you weren’t the only one pissed off back then, I can assure you. The things I hate most are probably clumsy ass kids who think they’re big shit, and you happen to fit the description.” He muttered, actually _checking his fingernails,_ and Eren was this close to punching him in the face when the man said, “So, why the hell are you here in this dump again?”

Eren remembered what he was supposed to do with a startled “Shit!” The ticking of a thousand clocks echoed in his years, the looming “8 pm” deadline a crushing weight on his chest. The sands of time wait for no man…Eren felt like bashing his head against the wall. Looking frantically around and finding the room largely empty, he decided his only option was to beg the cleaner for help. “See, I…I’m looking for someone called Levi Ackerman, do you-“

The cleaner arched an eyebrow. “ _I’m_ Levi Ackerman, the fuck do you want?”

Eren’s eyes widened.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like this chapter? (I'm going to assume you liked the previous chapters, too, thank you for all the feedback and kudos, I didn't expect to get many views at all.) Eren and Levi finally properly meet, woohoo C: next chapter is going to be mostly about them and their mishaps, so bookmark/subscribe if you deem this worthy of your attention!  
> Tell me what you thought of this chapter (Also say hi or talk to me because fanfiction writers are always lonely and seek attention) and tell me what you want to see in the next few chapters. I have a basic outline, sure, but you can't have too many cute Ereri scene ideas. You can find me on Tumblr at chlorinephantomhive where I rule the internet, and see you next Tuesday!  
> -Audrey-


	6. Manly Bonding Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren learns the true identity of his oh-so favourite person in the world. Eren also might or might screw up a certain exam. (Hint: he doesn't.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO'S BACK AGAIN! Also, guess who is going to Anime Festival Asia THIS FRIDAY (inhales deeply) I'm going to go scout the stands for some good steamy doujin volumes and I swear all those nedoroids are going to be mine. Also the posters. Also the cosplay items. Have I mentioned that I am a huge f*cking weeaboo and so are all of my friends ;A;  
> This chapter is one of the longest so far and I hope you enjoy it! Broke down halfway because I had a writer's block but my amazing beta got me back writing in no time, I really need more motivation wheeeew-

When Eren was thirteen, he drank a can of milk thinking it was root beer.

It wasn’t a big deal. School friends, harmless prank, filming his reaction as blackmail material.

But to this day, Eren could still remember how intense and deep-rooted the shock was when his tastebuds detected something wholly different from what he was anticipating. A simple trick, believing in something only to have it turn out something else- but the effect would last for a long, long time.

And this was how he felt, now, staring at the dark haired man with the ice cold eyes.

“Y-You’re- you’re the- the- vice-“

“Do you have a _stuttering problem?_ Jesus Christ, just when I thought one person couldn’t be more of a screw up in life.”

  
“NO!” Eren stumbled back, a little shocked at how agitated he was. “You’re the vice head of the Recon Corps? This place? Recon Corps Criminal Invest-“

“Goddamn, I haven’t heard the title “vice head” in a long time. Erwin thought it would be funny to give us military rankings, so I mostly go by Corporal. And yes, kid, how many times do I need to say it?”

“But I thought you were…a…cleaner…” Eren winced, shrinking into himself. Sparing a look at Levi and seeing his dark expression, Eren hastened to rephrase what he had said, sputtering on his own words. “I mean, you had the thingy over your face, and you seemed so angry that I spilled your coffee on the floor, that…I thought…I don’t mean to be offensive to cleaners in general, I swear! I just-“

“You’re a natural born pro at this, aren’t you?”

  
“Huh? At what?”

He’d fallen right into Levi’s trap.

“At spouting bullshit.” The older man sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Just because I actually appreciate _having a hygienic environment_ unlike the rest of you doesn’t mean I’m a cleaner. I hate dirt, and I hate people who spread dirt, is that so hard to understand?”

“Wow, okay, you might not be a cleaner but you’re still an asshole,” Eren gathered his composure, “I can’t believe I have to be your partner!”

“Wait, the fuck did you say?”

“Oh, you don’t know yet-“ Eren resisted the urge to smack his own forehead. “My name is Eren Jaeger, you’re kind of…the entrance exam…”

“YOU’RE the one I’m babysitting?” Levi lapsed into a vicious string of curses, eyebrows furrowed even tighter than before. Raising up a hand when Eren started to retort, Levi took a strained breath and looked him in the eye.“If you want to get through this, we’re going to have to form a temporary truce.” Levi managed to spit out, and Eren flinched away subconsciously.

“Dude, you were the one who started getting all defensive in the first place.”

“Because you’re a clumsy brat who doesn’t know when to shut his mouth!”

“Stop acting like you’re so much better than me!”

“So you’re telling me to _lie?”_

Eren sucked in a mouthful of air and tapped his watch, green eyes boring a hole into the floor. “We’re going to Shinganshina hospital.”

-

“There’s nothing! There’s nothing, god, there’s nothing here at all-“ Eren fought back the shameful sensation of being utterly, completely, totally _useless_ as he sifted frantically through the piles of paper.

There were hundreds of sheets, filled to the brim with the names of the people who had visited the hospital over the past three days, the period where the patient data had gone missing. By tracking the CCTV footage, he’d narrowed down a few names that seemed suspicious, but the infuriating fact was that _none of these names_ had appeared in any of the papers he was looking at now. That left him with two options; either he was overlooking something, or the person who stole the documents was a member of the staff. Or pretended to be one…that was it! Eren shuffled all the papers together and leapt up with a determined hiss.

The papers had gone missing from the cardiology, psychiatry and pedology departments respectively, and only a select few top tier staff members could access all three. That narrowed down his search quite a bit. The culprit would have stolen the staff card from one of them and somehow prevented them from speaking up till now. It was only a simple matter of pinpointing the one who’d been threatened…

“Find anything good?” Came a bored voice from behind, and Eren ran a hand through his hair in irritation. “Yeah, possibly. Do you know where to-“

“Ah, ah, just here to be your guardian angel and watch over you, remember? No asking for help.”

Jesus, this man pissed him off.

  
“Sorry, _Corporal,_ then you should just refrain from talking in case I mistake you for something other than a burden.”

“Beep beep beep,” Levi said, and Eren scrunched up his nose in confusion. “Oh, sorry, that was just my butthurt detector going off.”

  
Eren vowed never to speak to him again unless he was physically forced to.

Making his way up a flight of stairs, Eren could feel the adrenaline of the hunt buzzing in his veins. There was something so inherently satisfying about being so close to cracking the case, just a fingertip away from brushing the ocean of truth. Maybe he could actually do this, maybe he’d actually be successful. It struck him how much doubt he’d had in his abilities, even as he’d been silently pep talking himself early that morning. Somehow, you always end up feeling like you can’t accomplish anything until you actually accomplish it. Eren Jaeger talking you through on the rules of life, he could practically hear the tinny voice of a radio in his head, tune in now for a shitload of inspiration.

He talked to yet another nurse, the unfamiliar faces all blurring in his mind. Gestured to various corners of the room. Explained the situation. A strange expression came over her face- pity? Something deeper than that- and her lipsticked red mouth opened to deliver the news.

_Not a single staff member had been to all three departments._

 

And then everything came crashing down again.

 

There was something wrong with this. Sure, Eren could think of many other possibilities; maybe the fake staff member had passed a hospital visitor the staff card, maybe it wasn’t a fake staff member at all and an actual one with bad intentions. Maybe he’d failed to see another suspicious visitor and it wasn’t a staff member, real or fake, behind the thefts at all…there were a myriad of things to consider. And that, in itself, made something feel off about this whole entrance exam. The scope was too broad. There seemed to be no way out of this labyrinth to find the truth that waited at the end. Too many factors to consider.

This case was…unsolvable, without any other proof.

Or was Eren just too stupid?

He felt like tearing tufts of his hair out, but he could feel Levi’s presence in the room. _Fuck Levi._ He was probably gloating, probably waiting for Eren to be at his most vulnerable before pouncing. Wouldn’t be five seconds before Levi made an offhand comment meant to viciously attack Eren and lower his self esteem to rock bottom.

“Are you going to give up?”

Eren started, not expecting the serious tone in Levi’s voice. Give up, huh? The notion wasn’t even tempting. Giving up entailed disappointing himself, and Mikasa, and Armin. And his mother, if she were still here. Giving up was out of the question. Even the weak could fight if they didn’t give up.

And so he didn’t need to think twice before replying,

“What do you think?”

  
Hours passed. Eren travelled from one end of the hospital to the other, leaving no detail untouched. There were too many things that he didn’t know, but he wasn’t going to let that get in the way of his mission. He checked every file, despite the prickling, dry sensation in his eyes. He skipped through every disc of CCTV footage that fit the criteria. Every resource available, he leeched dry. And when they ran out, he tried to find more.

Somehow, though, anything and everything he tried seemed to lead to a dead end. From square one, he’d journey all the way to square twenty before another step he’d taken contradicted the location of his next square. It was puzzling, and it was testing his patience, but he kept going, fuelled by a fire that seemed part of him by now. He wouldn’t ever, ever give up. He was going to keep running himself into the ground.

He tried to think how Armin would think. Use a bit of the intelligence he actually had, even though it was definitely not as much as some of his friend’s. Stayed calm like Mikasa. The thought of her red scarf kept him grounded. He’d saved her. He’d given it to her. He could do anything.

And before he knew it, dusk was falling. Levi had been a shadow in the background, silent and unmoving. Eren’s eyes travelled the lines of alphabet tirelessly. Questions ran through his mind, and he’d write them down. Sometimes he was almost positive he’d solve the mystery. But it was as if a piece of the puzzle were missing, and no one had told him. He started thinking in black and white, yes or no.

The fire in him burned on.

At some point, he realised that it was already eight o clock, and the deadline had passed. The sinking feeling in his chest was like black sludge, but even if he’d missed his chance at entering the Recon Corps, he had to figure out who stole the hospital’s documents. See, there was more to it at stake than his own petty little goals. Someone out there was abusing hospital patient’s confidential information, and he’d camp here for the night if it meant he’d make more progress. Positive that he’d stumble across an answer if he covered every path possible, he continued to work.

Until a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

It was like he’d been jolted out from his own little world with that single warm press on his skin.

“Eren, we should be heading back now.”

It was with a jolt that he realised that was the first time Levi had said his name. Shaking a stray lock of hair from his eyes, he looked defiantly into Levi’s impassive face. “I don’t care if I miss the deadline, Levi, I need to do this. What about the stolen documents?” Eren felt a sudden surge of anger at himself for being too stupid to solve it. The other recruits probably already had. But he’d prove his own worth to himself, and he didn’t give a single fuck about Levi or anyone who tried to stop him. Eren against the world, it’d always been that way.

“Not bad, kid,” the older man muttered to himself, too softly for it to be discernible, and Eren was halfway through turning back to the files stacked in front of him when Levi grabbed him by the arm.

“But we have to go now. You’ll understand when you get back.”

“What?! No, you can’t-“

“I _said,_ you’ll understand when you get back. I can’t explain now.”

Eren was overcome by a wave of smothering confusion. Why wasn’t Levi concerned in the least? Why wasn’t he telling Eren that he’d failed, that he might as well go home now? And over that was a thick layer of anger. Levi had no right to tell him to stop.

“THEN EXPLAIN IT TO ME- MFFFF!” Eren couldn’t believe it. Levi had actually _smacked a hand_ over his mouth and was dragging him towards the entrance with unbelievable strength. Not knowing how to react, Eren let himself stumble out into the fresh night air before darting his tongue out to leave a wide stripe of saliva on Levi’s skin. The grey eyes widened in horror, a small convulsion of disgust running along his arms, but the corporal had more conviction than Eren gave him credit for. Ignoring the concerned stares from passers-by, he tightened his hold on Eren’s biceps and marched all the way onto the bus, eyebrows knitted together so tightly Eren thought a vein might actually burst. It would have been a comical sight, a short man with an expression of pure irritation on his face towing a taller man behind him, but Eren was too bewildered to be amused.

The ride back to the headquarters was spent in silence as Eren bit his lip and tried to figure out the next step of his future. He could feel something prickling at the back of his eyelids, but he didn’t want to give it recognition for what it really was.

He hadn’t cried since that day.

“Hey, brat. I know we didn’t get off to a good start, but trust me, all right? You did well in this test. Just…stop looking like a kicked puppy, it’s pathetic.”

Eren didn’t understand how in the world he could’ve done well, but the impending feeling of tears was no longer there.

—

Everything was a mess when Eren stepped back into the conference hall. Recruits huddled in corners glowering, some storming around the hall, some comforting their friends on the brink of tears. What was going on? Turning to Levi, he realised that the man had disappeared. He really was like a shadow, a shadow as sharp as a blade and twice as fast. Eren tried to hover on the fringes of the other recruit’s conversations, hoping to get a sense of whatever pandemonium was breaking out.

“Couldn’t….not your fault….what happened….I didn’t manage….” He couldn’t make head or tail of them, but every word carried a weight of hopelessness as they emerged from pale lips. And that was when he saw Armin, propped up against a pillar with a frown marring his gentle features. “Hey!” The boy in question jolted, mouth dissolving into a smile. “Eren, did you have the same problem as everyone else? The minute I figured it out, I came back here. I’ve been waiting for four hours alone now!“

“Hold on, what do you mean? Figure what out? The exam? I’m useless, Armin, I couldn’t even make sense of the whole situation, my partner dragged me back, probably because I looked too pathetic trying to sort through the files-“

“No, Eren! Don’t you see? The entrance exam, the missing hospital files- it was all fake! The mystery was unsolvable, had been all along. The Recon Corps wanted more than just an actual criminal case, they wanted to see how recruits would react to failure, wanted to see what they’d do when there was no way out! That was the whole test!”

“Wait, so…no one actually stole the hospital files? The Recon Corps, they just…set us up, all to test our values?” Eren’s eyes widened slowly in understanding. That’s why Levi had dragged him back against his will, because it didn’t matter and the test was over.

“Yes! Anyone smart can be a detective, Eren, but not everyone has the strength or the shrewdness or the…You understand what I mean?” Armin had jumped up and was now gesturing frantically. Eren had never seen him more excited in his life. “The Recon Corps, they’re genius! I thought they were just desperate so they made it an actual criminal case, but they were so desperate they actually thought up this whole plan! Now I really, really want to make it in, with you and Mikasa.”

Eren frowned. “But, wait, how would they know how we reacted….? Oh my god, _no wonder they sent a member of the Recon Corps along with us!_ Not to keep us safe, but to _monitor what we did in the face of difficulty!_ ” Armin nodded eagerly, placing both hands on Eren’s shoulders. “Now you understand!”

But Eren couldn’t hear Armin anymore, because his head was filled with thoughts of the cold grey eyes and the man made of shadows. Levi…had been observing him. Had been accessing him, from the start. He could only hope his performance had been satisfactory.

He had no doubt that Levi would be fair.

_How do you know?_

_  
_It was funny, but somehow, Eren just did.

Time passed slowly in that hall. Eren was unsurprised when Erwin was the one to reveal the true motive of the test and why they had made entire case up, because he was just the kind of person who’d plan this strategy. The hall resounded with gasps of betrayal, then gradually understanding, as the truth fell on all of them and crushed their previous emotions. Armin’s eyes were glowing as he mentally got down to his knees and offered up his soul to the head of the Recon Corps. _Hero worship,_ Eren scoffed, before he recalled how he’d been jealous of Levi, too. And now, all that was left was a kind of nervous energy that started from one’s feet and fizzled all the way up out of their ears.

Eren felt Armin grab his arm and tightened his own grip.

_Mom, I’m going to make you proud._

 

“All the reports from our members are in. We’ve narrowed down the new batch of recruits for the RCCIA!” Petra’s sweet voice rang throughout the hall. Eren remembered the twinkle in her eye from when she was sitting behind the counter. All the staff must have been in on the plan.

One heartbeat.

Two heartbeats.

Three heart-

“First, we have Mikasa Ackerman!”

Armin’s fingers bit painfully into Eren skin as they turned to each other and nodded. _This had been expected._ Mikasa was exceptionally level-headed. She’d always had perfect self control.

“When Mikasa realised that solving the case was impossible, she demonstrated an exceptional amount of skill when she,” Petra giggled, “Restrained her partner and threatened to give him bodily harm if he didn’t tell her what was going on.” The hall was silent. Petra started to laugh harder. Armin stared at Eren with wide eyes.

“Ha- next, Reiner Braun. He…”

With each name, Eren grew more and more afraid. Bracing himself, and trying to tell himself that it didn’t matter, but of course it did, this mattered so much, and he was so scared. Anytime, Petra would finish with a “I’m very sorry to the rest of you who failed to pass.” Anytime, he’d be showered with false sympathy. Anytime, now…

“Eren Jaeger.”

_Holy fucking SHIT he had not expected that._

“Eren was reported to have a sense of purpose that was almost terrifying, refusing to stop even after the deadline because he was…um, “Scared shitless” about the thefts. Good job,” Petra said, and Eren swear she winked at him. His heart was thudding painfully in his chest. He’d actually- Levi had actually- holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, how was he going to face Levi now, he was so _happy,_ he was so happy and he was a part of the Recon Corps and he still had a place in University doing criminology and finally, finally his life was getting on track! He didn’t think he’d be able to move, because it felt like his spine had gone limp. Armin was the only thing between him and the ground.

“Originally that were all the cadets we planned to take in, however, a special case occurred. Armin Arlert was the _only_ one to have figured out our real motive almost immediately. He has a very bright future ahead of him.” Eren, in a sudden rush of euphoria, shook a red-faced Armin back and forth, desperately trying not to shout.

A new chapter of his life was about to begin.

—

Levi stood in another room, fully enshrouded in the darkness. His breath hitched with every gasp. He faced the window, looking at the waning moon.

Everything had come full circle.

The past had caught up to him.

“Little sister…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for continuing to read and support! Please spread the word to your friends if you liked this fic, it means a lot to me (also an excuse to dish out the Ereri love to a bigger audience). Don't be shy to comment/ask me anything and if you want a fic rec DEFINITELY COME TO ME BECAUSE GOD KNOWS I MUST IMPART ALL THIS KNOWLEDGE. Tumblr is chlorinephantomhive (MY ASK BOX IS EMPTY. MAKE IT NOT SO) and see you next Tuesday!
> 
> P.S I FORGOT TO MENTION, THIS FIC HIT THE 20K MARK (!!!)


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